Oil prices gain amid weak dollar

Oil prices rose Thursday as declining dollar made the dollar-priced crude less expensive and more attractive for buyers holding other currencies.

The U.S. dollar decreased against most major currencies Thursday as the economic data from the country came out mixed.

The U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday that new orders for manufactured durable goods in August declined 4.8 billion dollars, or 2 percent, to 236.3 billion dollars.

U.S. 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 Wednesday.

Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the U.S. 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 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery increased 42 cents to close at 48.17 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.