By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Crude futures rallied above $73 a barrel on Thursday, extending their gains in what analysts described as a "technical recovery," as the euro and U.S. stock futures also rose.
Crude oil for July delivery gained $1.70, or 2.3%, to $73.21 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The contract earlier hit an intraday high of $73.67 a barrel.
"This is likely to be a technical recovery after the price slump of over 20% in the past three weeks," said analysts at Commerzbank AG in a note.
Oil futures rose 4% on Wednesday after data showed a decline in crude inventories at Cushing, Okla., the main delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Traders appeared to shrug off other parts of the inventory report, including the fact that crude inventories overall rose more than expected in the latest week.
The U.S. government also reported an increase in demand for gasoline and other oil products, further lifting sentiment in the energy markets.
"This selective perception of markets signals a temporary change of mood on the oil market and suggests that prices will rise further in the near term, especially as the U.S. dollar is tending weaker today," the Commerzbank analysts said.
The dollar index (DXY 86.74, -0.38, -0.44%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, dropped 0.6% to 86.599. The euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2256, +0.0098, +0.8062%) rose 0.8% to $1.2277.
U.S. stock futures posted strong gains after China denied media reports that it was considering selling some of it holdings of euro-zone government bonds.
Traders are awaiting data on weekly jobless claims and a revision to first-quarter GDP, due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
