Oil

Oil fell below $48 a barrel on Thursday, pressured by a stronger dollar and as a surprise increase in U.S. inventories served as a reminder that supply remains ample despite unplanned outages.

U.S. stocks extended their gains on Wednesday, carving out new intraday highs as a rally in banks shares ahead of the Federal Reserve minutes outweighed an unexpected rise in oil inventories.

A global gauge of stocks fell on Tuesday, weighed down by Wall Street on concerns that strong U.S. inflation data could bring closer an expected rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

Oil experts have been closely monitoring the energy sector after the world’s biggest crude exporters failed last month to reach an agreement on an oil-production freeze.

Oil traded at around $49 a barrel on Tuesday within sight of a six-month high, supported by supply outages in Nigeria, Canada and other producers that are eroding a persistent glut.

Oil prices hit six-month highs on Monday on worries about supply outages in Nigeria and Venezuela and as long-time bear Goldman Sachs sounded more positive on the market, although a stockpile build at the U.S. storage hub for crude futures pared gains.

Oil and gas producer Range Resources said it would buy Memorial Resource Development in an all-stock deal valued at $4.4 billion, including $1.1 billion in debt.

OPEC said the global oil market is oversupplied and signaled the glut may increase this year, as surging output from its members makes up for losses from other countries whose production has been hit by a price fall.

Oil prices ended a three-day bull run on Friday, falling as a strong dollar made it more expensive to hold oil positions though losses were cushioned by Nigerian outages that have slashed output to the lowest in 22 years.

U.S. stocks were lower in early afternoon trading on Thursday, with the Nasdaq dropping more than 1 percent, after Apple fell to a two-year low and healthcare stock also tumbled.

Unplanned disruptions in the likes of Canada, Nigeria or Libya could help run down a global overhang of unused oil.

Oil prices rose toward six-month highs on Thursday, supported by data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) showing tightening supply in addition to a surprise drop in U.S. crude inventories

Weekly inventory data from the Energy Information Administration showed an unexpected drawdown in U.S. crude oil stockpiles, sending oil and energy stocks higher on the session.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday as worries about supply disruptions resurfaced after Shell announced the closure of a key Nigerian pipeline.

U.S. stocks were up more than 1 percent on Tuesday, putting them on track for their biggest one-day gain in about a month, helped by a rally in financial shares and with commodity prices boosting energy and industrial stocks.

Oil prices traded higher on Tuesday, with supply outages from Canada to Nigeria helping alleviate the global glut of crude.

While some view Ali al-Naimi's ouster as a result of perhaps diverging views between him and the oil-rich nation’s leadership, others say 'not so fast' to such a conclusion.