SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose, trading near a 10-month high in New York as rising equities bolstered confidence in the economic recovery.

Oil advanced for a fifth day as European and Asian stocks gained, following an Aug. 21 report that showed sales of existing homes in the U.S. jumped more than forecast in July to the highest in almost two years. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.9 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 2.4 percent.
“There isn’t a great deal behind the revival in oil besides the strength in equities, and Chinese equities in particular,” said Christopher Bellew, senior broker at Bache Commodities in London. “The demand isn’t really there to push crude past resistance around $76 a barrel.”
Crude oil for October delivery rose as much as 52 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $74.41 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $74.24 at 9:19 a.m. in London.
The contract climbed 1.3 percent Aug. 21 to $73.89 a barrel, the highest settlement since Oct. 21, as shares rallied and the dollar fell. Futures have gained 67 percent in 2009.
“The market is on the cusp of $75,” Stephen Schork, president of consultant Schork Group Inc. in Villanova, Pennsylvania, said in his daily note to clients. “If it gets there, there is not a hell of lot to prevent it from going to $80 or $85.”
-------------Situation ‘improving’
Futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index added 0.9 percent at 9:16 a.m. in London. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 2.4 percent to 113.30, with almost 10 times as many stocks advancing as retreating.
“We have seen a lot of improvement in the economic situation,” Eliane Tanner, commodity strategist at Credit Suisse Group AG in Zurich, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Demand has now already peaked a little bit globally.”
Oil prices surged Aug. 19 after the U.S. Energy Department reported an 8.4 million-barrel drop in the country’s commercially held stockpiles. The decline left inventories, still 12 percent higher than a year earlier, at a four-week low.
Brent crude oil for October settlement rose as much as 56 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $74.75 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract traded at $74.38 at 9:17 a.m. in London.
A rebel group in Nigeria threatened to resume attacks on oil infrastructure that have cut exports by more than 20 percent since 2006. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, an armed group in Nigeria’s main oil-producing region, said Aug. 22 it suspended peace talks because the government “expects disarmament without the real issues being addressed.”
Nigeria is part of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps 40 percent of the world’s crude oil. The 12-member group is scheduled to discuss policy Sept. 9 in Vienna.