Oil gains on signs of rise in US petrol demand

Crude oil futures rose on Wednesday on signs of a pick-up in US petrol demand, although this bullish signal was countered by another increase in US petrol and crude oil inventories.

The latest weekly report from the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy, showed US petrol demand was up 2.5 per cent in the past four weeks, compared with the same period a year ago.

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