Oil gains as vaccine hopes outweigh lockdown impact

Oil prices rose on Tuesday as hopes that a COVID-19 vaccine could be on the horizon outweighed the expected negative impact on fuel demand of new lockdowns to curb the virus.

Brent crude futures rose 34 cents, or 0.8%, to $42.74 by 1312 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 20 cents, or 0.5%, to $40.49.

Both contracts jumped 8% on Monday, in their biggest daily gains in more than five months, after drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech said an experimental COVID-19 treatment was more than 90% effective based on initial trial results.

Mass rollouts, however, are likely to be months away and subject to regulatory approvals.