Crude prices rise on advancing U.S. durable goods orders

Investing.com - Oil prices rose on Friday after U.S. data revealed orders for durable goods rose more than expected in September, which sparked expectations for increased activity in the nation's factories and an increase in demand for oil.
 
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at USD97.82 a barrel during U.S. trading, up 0.73%.

The commodity hit a session low of USD97.01 and a high of USD97.91. The December contract settled up 0.26% at USD97.11 a barrel on Thursday.

The Census Bureau reported earlier that U.S. durable goods orders rose 3.7% last month, exceeding expectations for a 2.0% increase after a 0.1% rise in August, which drew applause in energy markets.

Core durable goods orders, which exclude transportation items, fell 0.1% in September, confounding expectations for a 0.5% rise after a 0.1% decline the previous month, though investors focused on the broader number largely.

Oil continued to rise on solid Chinese manufacturing data released Thursday.

The preliminary reading of China’s HSBC manufacturing index for October rose to a seven-month high of 50.9, up from a final reading of 50.2 in September. Economists had expected the index to tick up to 50.5.

China is the world's second-largest consumer of crude after the U.S., and the numbers sparked hopes that demand will strengthen in the Asian giant.

Weak U.S. consumer sentiment data capped oil's gains though only slightly.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final consumer sentiment index for October fell to 73.2 from 75.2 in September, worse than expectations for a downtick to 75.0 and significantly due to concerns associated with the government shutdown.

Meanwhile on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for November delivery were down 0.32% at USD106.65 a barrel, up USD8.83 from its U.S. counterpart.