Adding 4 cents in Price, Brent Crude trades at $44.13 a barrel

Brent crude on Thursday added 4 cents in price and traded at $44.13 in early hours.

According to the details, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down one cent at $41.26 a barrel.

U.S. crude inventories fell by 10.6 million barrels in the week to July 24 to 526 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 357,000-barrel rise.

Market Analysts said “The market’s relative non-plussed reaction to the colossal beat on the EIA print was likely due to a report including a considerable fall in U.S. imports,”

Deaths from COVID-19 topped 150,000 in the United States on Wednesday, while Brazil, with the world’s second-worst outbreak, set new daily records of confirmed cases and deaths. New infections in Australia hit a record on Thursday.

Asian Markets

On the other hand, Asian stocks gained Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates near zero to support a derailing economy.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.1% to 22,413.40

the Shanghai Composite Index was off 0.1% at 3,290.87.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.3% to 24,951.85 despite data showing the territory’s economy shrank by 9% in the quarter ending in June.

The Kospi in Seoul gained 0.2% to 2,267.53

Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 added 0.6% to 6,041.70.

New Zealand advanced while Singapore and Jakarta retreated.

Benchmark S&P 500 index rose 1.2% to 3,258.44 in its biggest daily increase in two weeks.

The S&P 500, which was down 34% earlier, is back within 3.8% of its February record.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 26,539.57.

The Nasdaq composite added 1.4% to 10,542.94.

Also on the fourth day of business week, Japan reported retail sales rose by a better-than-forecast 13.1% in June over the previous month.