BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday, reversing earlier losses, as a potential pause in U.S. interest rate hikes and the debt ceiling bill passing a crucial vote renewed optimism about further fuel demand growth in the world's biggest oil consumer.
U.S. Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday pointed towards a potential rate hike "skip" in June that reversed market expectations of an imminent hike that could slow economic growth and weaken oil demand.
"Oil markets may have been oversold in the last two trading days due to the sluggish Chinese data and debt ceiling concerns.
Sentiment rebounded amid the debt bill’s passage in the House, and (the) Fed’s rate hike pause signal also offered a rebounding opportunity," said Tina Teng, a markets analyst at CMC Markets in Auckland.
U.S. crude oil inventories rose by about 5.2 million barrels last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute (API) figures on Wednesday.
Persons:
Brent, Tina Teng, Goldman Sachs, Arathy Somasekhar, Andrew Hayley, Sonali Paul, Christian
Organizations:
Brent, U.S, West Texas, . Federal, U.S . House, CMC Markets, P Global, American Petroleum Institute, Organization of, Petroleum, HSBC, Thomson
Locations:
BEIJING, Auckland, China, P Global China, U.S, Russia, Houston, Beijing