Oil reaches 9 month high on OPEC-Russia deal on output growth

Oil prices struck the highest level since March after major producers agreed a cautious increase in output that eased fears of oversupply.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.7

On Thursday evening, Russia and Opec struck a deal to boost oil supply by 500,000 barrels a day from January, which was a quarter of what they had agreed previously.

Oil prices have also benefited from optimism about coronavirus vaccines, which have lifted the global economic outlook and expectations for demand of products such as petrol and jet fuel.

A weaker US dollar has been a further boon to crude since it makes it less expensive for holders of other currencies to purchase the commodity.

The dollar index, which measures the buck against trading partners’ currencies, fell 0.1 per cent on Friday morning, hovering around a two-and-a-half-year low.

London’s FTSE 100 index, which has heavy weightings of oil producers, miners and commodities traders, was the best performer in Europe on Friday morning, opening 0.6 per cent higher.

The Stoxx 600 European equity benchmark added 0.1 per cent while Germany’s Xetra Dax fell 0.2 per cent.

The FTSE All-World share index rose a further 0.1 per cent on Friday to eke out a fresh record high while MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares rose 0.7 per cent to a new record.

This came after the latest signs of progress in talks between US lawmakers about a second stimulus package for the world’s largest economy.

The positive mood towards economies reopening also lifted the price of New York-traded copper futures by a further 0.9 per cent to $3,511 a tonne on Friday, the highest since October 2013.