Oil soars amid soaring stocks, dollar depreciates

NEW YORK, April 2 (Xinhua News Agency) - Crude oil jumped back over 52 dollars a barrel in the United States on Thursday amid a strong rebound, Stock markets and a weak dollar.

Light-sweet crude gained $4.25, or nearly 9%, to settle at $54.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil prices have closely tracked stock market fluctuations. Wall Street rallied on Thursday with major gauges rising more than 2% as the Financial Accounting Standards Board cleared mark-to-market rules and Group of 20 leaders agreed in London to boost the global economic recovery.

Investors largely shrugged off negative reports, with unemployment data and natural gas inventories rising to record highs. The U.S. Department of Labor says the unemployment rate is the highest in more than 20 years, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Management Center reports that underground natural gas storage capacity in 48 states is 32.1 percent higher than a year ago. 22.4, average.

In London, Brent crude oil rose to $4.31 to settle at $5,275 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.