Summary Oil prices rose modestly Thursday, lifted by a weaker dollar.
NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices rose modestly Thursday, lifted by a weaker dollar that makes dollar-priced crude less expensive.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for July delivery rose 53 cents to finish at $60.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent North Sea crude for August advanced 39 cents to $64.26 a barrel in London.
The Federal Reserve s decision Wednesday to leave unchanged its key federal funds interest rate, as expected, was coupled with the central bank s outlook for a more gentle rise in rates once liftoff begins, presumably this year.
"Disappointment that the Federal Reserve this week didn t offer a more definitive signal that US interest rates would rise this year weighed on the dollar," pushing it to one-month lows against rivals, said Joe Manimbo at Western Union Business Solutions.
The New York crude market has drifted this week around the $60 level in the absence of major triggers for a new direction, said James Williams of WTRG Economics.
"We ve been relatively stable for a week, and there really hasn t been anything new to move oil prices. There really isn t anything to support a movement one way or the other at this point and we re waiting for the next major news item," said Williams.
With the market so flat, "this is time to be nervous on what direction traders are thinking of," he added.
Investors are switching focus "between price-supporting news from the US where inventories and rig counts are falling" and concerns about the global supply glut, according to Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Asia-Pacific oil and gas practice at business consultancy firm EY.
The US Department of Energy on Wednesday said the country s crude reserves fell by 2.7 million barrels last week in a mixed petroleum report that Williams said was "neutral with few surprises."
