Oil prices gain amid weak dollar

New York, Sep 25 : Oil prices rose on Thursday as declining dollar made the dollar-priced crude less expensive and more attractive for buyers holding other currencies.

The US dollar fell against most major currencies on Thursday as the economic data from the country came out mixed, Xinhua reported.

The US Commerce Department announced on Thursday that new orders for manufactured durable goods in August declined $4.8 billion, or two percent, to $236.3 billion.

US crude supplies of last week dropped 1.9 million barrels to 454 million barrels, 96 million barrels more than one year before, according to the weekly report issued by the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.

Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the US contract lost 0.5 million barrels to 54 million barrels.

The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery moved up 43 cents to settle at $44.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery increased 42 cents to close at $48.17 a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.