Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Oil rose for a second day as an industry-funded report showed a drop in crude inventories in the U.S., the world’s biggest energy consumer. Oil extended its 5.3 percent surge yesterday after the American Petroleum Institute reported crude stockpiles fell an unexpected 6.13 million barrels last week. Asian stocks climbed today, led by automakers and miners. “The API numbers were a big surprise,” said Jonathan Kornafel, a director for Asia at Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. “Crude is trading like an asset class right now. It’s the same thing we’ve been seeing for a while, the dollar is softer and equities were stronger.” Crude oil for September delivery rose as much as $1.31, or 1.9 percent, to $70.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $69.99 at 12:17 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, it gained $2.44, or 3.7 percent, to settle at $69.19. The September contract expires tomorrow. The more-active October future increased 57 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $71.66 a barrel at 12:18 p.m. Singapore time. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.3 percent to 110.98 as of 1:09 p.m. in Tokyo. The dollar traded at $1.4141 per euro at 11:59 a.m. in Singapore, after falling 0.4 percent yesterday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose to 989.67 yesterday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 0.9 percent to 9,217.94. “The fact that equities managed to claw back some ground was a positive for oil,” said Toby Hassall, a research analyst at Commodity Warrants Australia Pty in Sydney. The API numbers “are reasonably supportive to prices.” API Inventories U.S. crude inventories dropped to 342.4 million barrels and gasoline supplies declined 847,000 barrels to 212.6 million, the API report showed. The Energy Department is scheduled to release its weekly report today at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. That report will probably show stockpiles rose for a fourth week, according to a survey of analysts. Oil-supply totals from the API and DOE moved in the same direction for the past six weeks and 76 percent of the time over the past four years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy Department for its weekly survey. $70 Pivot Last week, oil traded in a range of $3.50 with a high of $72.21 a barrel and a low of $68.71 a barrel. This week, oil has reached an intraday low of $65.23 before moving back to over $70 a barrel. “In this time of the year, July and August, when there is very little trading going on, we do get stuck around a pivot and it happens to be $70 at this point,” said Hudson’s Kornafel. “That’s what’s happened in the past couple of days. We had a big drop and then the market found a reason to rally back up again. Until we get more action in the market and more fundamental news then maybe we’ll have a breakout.” Brent crude oil for October settlement rose as much as $1.14, or 1.6 percent, to $73.51 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe Exchange. It was at $72.67 at 11:59 a.m. Singapore time. The contract yesterday jumped $1.83, or 2.6 percent, to end the session at $72.37 a barrel. Oil is poised to fall 10 to 15 percent in coming weeks as the global economy enters the second dip of a “W-shaped” recovery, said Geoff Clear, the head of Asian commodities at Australian & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. OPEC Output Angola’s daily crude oil exports are scheduled to rise to the highest this year, signaling that Africa’s second-biggest producer continues to pump more than its OPEC quota. Sixty-two cargoes totaling 59.1 million barrels, or an average of 1.903 million barrels a day, are scheduled to load in October, preliminary shipping programs show. That is the highest since December 2008 and compares with 58 cargoes, or 1.854 million barrels a day, planned for September. Preliminary schedules are subject to change. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, including Angola, have pledged to comply more closely with record production cuts of 4.2 million barrels a day announced in December in an attempt to support oil prices. The group is scheduled to discuss quotas in Vienna on Sept. 9 after leaving output unchanged at its two meetings this year.

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