Oil rose for a second day on Thursday after a five-session losing streak took prices to 11-week lows that investors felt anticipated disappointing US economic and inventory data, rekindling interest on the basis of technical indicators pointing to a rebound.

New US home sales slumped to the slowest pace on record in July and orders for costly durable goods were weak, data showed on Wednesday, heightening fears the economy was at risk of another downturn.

Negative statistics also prevailed in the US oil market on Wednesday, after government statistics showed the nation's total petroleum stockpiles extended an all-time high last week, with gains across the board.

US crude for October delivery rose 34 cents to $72.86 a barrel by 0255 GMT, after rising more than 1 percent on Wednesday, having touched an 11-week intraday low of $70.76.
 Prices have dropped about $10 from a peak of almost $83 on Aug 4. ICE Brent climbed 35 cents to $73.83.

'After so many days of the market losing steam, this could be just some sort of relief rally,' said Serene Lim, a Singapore-based oil analyst at ANZ. 'It could also be that the market has already priced in some very bad news and that is why, despite the inventory and economic data, we could see some strength.'  - Reuters