By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY(MarketWatch) — Benchmark crude-oil futures extended gains in electronic trading Thursday, supported by a weaker dollar, ahead of the next vote from the Greek parliament on legislation required to secure more aid and ward off default.
Crude for August delivery CL1Q +0.32% gained 61 cents, or 0.6%, to $95.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours.
The gains followed a 2% rally for oil prices Wednesday, after weekly U.S. inventories dropped by a bigger margin than analysts had forecast.
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It came amid the deadline for bids for the newly released 30 million barrels of oil made available by the U.S., part of the 60 million barrels scheduled to be released by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“No doubt, the availability of crude should improve materially, at least in parts of the third quarter, thereby covering for a large part of the stock draws implied in our and consensus balances, and this will clearly have, and is already having, a significant negative short-term impact on prices and curve shapes,” analysts at Barclays Capital said.
On Wednesday, the Greek parliament approved a 78 billion euro ($112.2 billion) package of austerity measures and asset sales, putting the debt-stricken nation one step closer to receiving the tranche of financial aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Analysts also expect Greek lawmakers to approve later Thursday the steps needed to implement the measures. Read more about Greece’s austerity plans.
The dollar slipped against major counterparts on Thursday, as the euro EURUSD +0.37% gained on the lower likelihood that Greece will default on its debt obligations.
The greenback tends to move inversely to dollar-priced commodities such as oil, as a stronger dollar makes the assets nominally cheaper.
The dollar index DXY -0.39% , which measures the performance of the U.S. unit against a basket of six rival currencies, slipped to 74.321 from 74.682 late Wednesday. Read more on currencies.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
