Oil prices powered higher this evening after news of strong manufacturing data in leading energy consumers China and the US.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October was up $1.93 at $76.57 a barrel in London trade. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October, jumped $2.13 to $74.05.
Analysts said that the markets decided to ignore the negative news that US private employment may have contracted in August and concentrated on the unexpected rebound in the ISM manufacturing index last month.
The US manufacturing sector expanded for the 13th month in a row in August, beating most analysts' expectations.
The oil market shrugged off data from the US Department of Energy that showed American crude inventories jumped 3.4 million barrels last week - far higher than the 800,000 barrel rise predicted by analysts.
Oil prices had fallen sharply earlier this week as traders fretted over the pace of the US economic recovery and growing fuel inventories.
