Wall Street opens higher as oil reaches 8-month high

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street opened with gains on Wednesday as oil prices have reached their highest level in the last eight months.

The Dow Jones rose 43 points to start the day at 17,982 points. The S&P 500 was up 3 points to open at 2,115, while the Nasdaq gained 7 point to begin the day at 4,969.

At the opening bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate reached $51.07 per barrel with a 1.4 percent increase, and international benchmark Brent crude climbed to $52.26 a barrel with a 1.6 percent rise.

Both benchmarks reached their highest level in the last eight months due to supply cuts in Nigeria, Venezuela, the U.S. and Canada.

The global oil market will focus on weekly crude oil inventories in the U.S. that will be announced later Wednesday.

A drop in the U.S.' weekly crude stocks could push oil prices higher.