London — Oil prices rose for a fourth consecutive session on Tuesday boosted by a weaker dollar and investors covering short positions, but concern over persistent oversupply capped gains. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, had gained 25c to $46.08 a barrel by 9.01am GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 23c at $43.61 a barrel. The gains mean the market is up slightly so far this week, after spending much of the past month in negative territory. The dollar fell 0.1% against a basket of six major currencies, propping up oil, ahead of a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen. "Short-term financial investors also significantly scaled back their net long positions in Brent on the ICE [Intercontinental Exchange] last week … and find themselves at their lowest level in a year and a half," Commerzbank said in a research note. "Short positions have soared to a new record high, having increased more than four-fold since the beginni...
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