Oil rally pushes Wall Street to higher close

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street ended Wednesday on an up note as crude oil prices reached their highest level in the last four months.

Oil prices soared more than 2 percent after the U.S.'s Energy Information Administration (EIA) said weekly U.S. crude inventories fell by 3 million barrels last week.

Fueled by OPEC's decision to limit its production last week, the rise in oil prices accelerated with the inventory decline to reach their highest level since early June, according to analysts.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 2.6 percent to as high as $49.97 per barrel during the day, from a previous close of $48.69.

International benchmark Brent crude rose 2.4 percent to peak at $52.10 during trading hours, from the previous close of $50.87 a barrel.

American oil and gas company Chesapeake Energy saw its shares increase 6.7 percent. Offshore drilling company Transocean had its stock value rise 5.9 percent.

The Dow Jones ended the session at 18,281 by adding 112 points and the S&P gained nine points to finish at 2,159. The Nasdaq jumped 26 points to close at 5,316.