NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures rose on Wednesday, lifted by a weaker dollar and a bigger-than-expected drop of 4.7 million barrels in U.S. stockpiles in the week ended Sept. 11.
Analysts surveyed by Platts expect crude-oil inventories to have fallen by 3.0 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 11.
Crude oil for October delivery rose nearly 1% to reach a high of $71.73 a barrel immediately after the data. It last gained 11 cents, or 0.1%, to $70.84 a barrel.
Crude came under pressure earlier after the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported late Tuesday that crude inventories rose by 631,000 barrels in the latest week.
On Tuesday, crude oil finished up 3% but fell back in electronic trade after the close of trade when the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported crude-oil inventories rose by 631,000 barrels in the latest week, according to media reports.
The dollar came under pressure overnight, especially against the Japanese yen, after Japan's new finance minister repeated Japan's reluctance to intervene in currency markets to arrest the yen's rise.
A weaker dollar tends to boost the price of dollar-denominated commodities, such as crude oil, as it makes them cheaper for holders of other currencies. The dollar index (DXY 76.26, -0.28, -0.37%) , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, fell to a fresh one-year low of 76.187 in overseas trade. It recently stood at 76.383.
Crude oil also received support, and the dollar came under further pressure, after a report that showed industrial production more than expected rose and the current-account deficit shrunk.
It earlier showed little immediate reaction after the government reported U.S. consumer prices increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in August, pushed higher by a 9.1% increase in gasoline prices.
Core consumer prices -- which exclude food and energy prices to get a better look at underlying inflation -- rose 0.1% in August. Both the CPI and the core CPI came in a tenth of a percentage point higher than estimated by economists surveyed by MarketWatch ahead of the report.
