Oil rises for 5th day straight on surprise fall in US stocks, vaccine hopes

TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil rose for a fifth day on Thursday after a surprise fall in U.S. crude inventories gave further legs to a rally driven by optimism that vaccines will end the coronavirus pandemic and revive demand for fuels.

Brent futures were up 45 cents, or 0.9%, at $49.06 a barrel by 0245 GMT, after rising around 1.6% in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate crude was up by 34 cents, or 0.7%, at $46.05 a barrel, having gained 1.8% on Wednesday.

Both benchmarks have risen about 9% this week, getting a boost after AstraZeneca said on Monday its COVID-19 vaccine could be up to 90% effective, adding to the potential armoury to end the worst pandemic in a century.