LONDON—Crude-oil prices pushed higher as investors looked to European equities for direction ahead of a weekend summit of European leaders on the region's debt crisis, analysts said.
European stocks strengthened following a press report that the firepower of Europe's key bailout fund would be increased. The move would be officially announced this weekend, the report said.
Mid morning, the front-month December Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was up 7 cents, or 0.1%, at $111.22 a barrel.
The New York Mercantile Exchange's front-month November contract, which expires Thursday, was trading up 54 cents, or 0.6%, at $88.88 a barrel. The December contract was trading up 52 cents at $89.05.
Macroeconomic developments remain the focus of the market, with investors taking cues from movements in the dollar and stocks.
Myrto Sokou, an analyst at Sucden Financial, said crude oil was trying to find direction from currency and equity movements ahead of the summit in Brussels Sunday.
Crude prices also gained some support from a weaker dollar as investors shrugged off moves by Standard & Poor's and Moody's to downgrade Spain's government bond rating Tuesday.
A weaker greenback tends to cause oil prices to rise as it makes oil cheaper to purchase for holders of currencies other than the dollar.
Meanwhile, the U.S. crude benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, gained support late Tuesday by an American Petroleum Institute report that showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell 3.1 million barrels last week.
Later Wednesday, some investor focus will shift to inventory data from the U.S's Energy Information Administration, which is viewed as a more accurate reading of oil stocks in the country.
According to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts, U.S. weekly oil inventory data are expected to show crude-oil inventories increased last week as refineries processed less oil.
Mid morning, the ICE's gasoil contract for November delivery was up $14.50, or 1.6%, at $951.00 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for November delivery was down 105 points, or 0.4%, at $2.7364 a gallon.
