LONDON - WORLD oil prices advanced on Wednesday on the back of a weak dollar and strong Chinese crude imports as the market waited for a crucial Opec output meeting in Vienna, traders said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, gained 1.23 dollars (S$1.60) to 82.90 dollars a barrel.
London's Brent North Sea crude for November delivery added 99 cents to 84.49 dollars.
'The price of oil has climbed above 82 dollars a barrel again, thanks to a weaker US dollar and more robust import figures from China, but is still well below the level reached last week,' said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.
'China imported a record volume of crude oil of 5.67 million barrels a day in September, a year-on-year rise of 35 per cent.' In foreign exchange deals on Wednesday, the European single currency topped 1.40 dollars again as the US unit came under pressure from the prospect of further US monetary policy easing.
Minutes from last month's US Federal Reserve policy meeting showed on Tuesday that the central bank anticipates additional stimulus may be needed soon to prop up a slackening economic recovery. -- AFP
