Oil climbs above $62 on China's strong economic growth

• Source: xinhua
• [08:17 July 17 2009]
• Comments

Oil prices climbed above $62 Thursday as investors found some hope from China's strong economic performance and better US employment data.

Earlier in the day, China, the second largest energy consumer, reported a strong economic growth of 7.9 percent for the second quarter, giving the market some hope for a sooner pickup in the global oil demand.

Oil prices also got a lift from the US government employment report in which the Labor Department said new applications for unemployment insurance dropped for the second consecutive week to their lowest level since early January.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose 48 cents to settle at 62.02 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. London Brent crude for August delivery fell 34 cents to 62.75 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.