Oil prices jump as China equity surges

Oil prices bounced Thursday as a recovery in Chinese stocks boosted investor sentiment. China stocks staged a strong rally on Thursday, recovering from a steep drop in the past three weeks, as the latest government prop-up measures have borne fruit.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 5.76 percent, the biggest daily rise in six years, to finish at 3,709.33 points.

Traders also bought the dip after the market had moved down since the beginning of July amid ample supplies.

US crude supplies of last week increased 0.4 million barrels to 465.8 million, 83.2 million barrels more than one year before, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA)'s Wednesday weekly report.

Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the US contract added 0.3 million barrels to 56.7 million barrels.

The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery moved up $1.13 to settle at $52.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for August delivery increased $1.56 to close at $58.61 a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.