By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up Thursday morning in Asia, continuing its upward trend as the latest U.S. crude oil supply data showed a .

The black liquid also benefitted from increasing investor risk appetite as concerns that China Evergrande Group (HK:)would default on its loans and impact the second-largest economy somewhat eased.

were up 0.25% to $76.38 by 12:23 AM ET (4:23 AM GMT) and were up 0.22% to $72.39.

The Wednesday release showed that there was a draw at 3.481million barrels during the week ending Sep. 17. Investing.com made predictions for a draw at 2.440 million barrels. A draw of 6.422 million barrels was also recorded in the past week.

The previous day’s Investing.com forecasts showed that there was a 6.108 million barrel draw.

Brent and WTI futures rose 2.5% Wednesday, as EIA data showed that supply levels were at their lowest since October 2018.

In a note, ING commodities strategists stated that “Oil fundamentals are still constructive, especially in the U.S.”

EIA data showed East Coast refinery utilization rates increased to 93%. This is the highest rate since May 2019, according to EIA.

Surging prices is also boosting market sentiment, and “supply shortage of gas could encourage power utilities to shift from gas to oil if winter turns out to be colder this year,” ANZ analysts said in a note.

Oil’s gains came even as the dollar remained near a one-month high after the hinted that interest rate hikes could come in 2022, much quicker than expected.