By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Oil prices advanced to top $73 a barrel Thursday as U.S. stock futures were near neutral and the U.S. dollar weakened.
The commodity was also drawing support from crude's near 12% decline earlier in the month, with the lower prices luring buyers.
Crude for October delivery added 99 cents to $74.240 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 89 cents to end at $72.52 on Wednesday.
The rise came after a surprise increase in inventories, with the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reporting an increase of 4.1 million barrels to U.S. stockpiles for the week ended Aug. 20.
On Thursday, stock futures wavered in a tight range as the number of people filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell 31,000 to 473,000 in the latest week, the first decline in one month, according to data from the Labor Department issued Thursday.
The dollar index (DXY 83.08, -0.18, -0.22%) , which compares the U.S. currency to six rivals, fell 0.22% to 83.05.
