London — Oil edged up on Wednesday as strong Chinese factory activity encouraged investor inflows into industrial commodities such as copper, although fast-growing US crude output tempered price gains. China reported a 7.2% year-on-year increase in industrial output in the first two months of the year, roundly beating expectations and, in a dose of support for oil bulls, the data showed crude production fell 1.9%. Copper and palladium, a key component in petrol-powered vehicles, both rose about 1%, which encouraged a bounce in the oil price. Brent crude was last up 27c at $64.92 a barrel, off an earlier low of $64.43, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 31c at $61.02 a barrel. "We’ve seen copper breach above $7,000 [a tonne] ... and I think a lot of this is coming out of this really big beat in the Chinese industrial production, so general macro-flows, I would say, are reinforcing that bullish narrative," ING commodities strategist Oliver Nugent said. China is the...
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