Oil prices rose more than 1% on Tuesday on hopes for a US-China trade agreement and optimism that Washington could roll back some tariffs on Chinese imports.
Brent crude futures rose 74 cents, or 1.2%, to $62.87 a barrel by 12:56 pm EST (1756 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 68 cents, or 1.2%, to $57.22 a barrel.
China is pushing US President Donald Trump to remove more tariffs imposed in September as part of a so-called Phase 1 deal, which would ease the economic impact of the trade dispute between the world’s two biggest oil consumers.
“While such a development could accommodate a signing of a Phase 1 deal that would allow for a further increase in risk acceptance and hence, bullish spillover from the equities and into the oil complex, a major long term agreement still appears elusive well into next year,” Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois, said in a report.
