Encouraged by positive indicators coming from the US market and other major worldwide markets, oil prices surged yesterday with New York's light sweet crude delivery for July hitting $US73.28 per barrel and London's Brent North Sea steadying at $US74.18 per barrel.

The soaring price jumps triggered rallies on stock markets across the world and Sucden analyst Myto Sokou said that the strong movement of equities showed that investors' risk appetite is back, lending optimism in the energy market and pushing crude oil prices to move higher.

Asian and European stocks shot up Thursday with the London market jumping 1.68 percent while Frankfurt and Paris gaining 1.78 percent and 2.27 percent respectively.

In Asia, the Hong Kong index climbed by 1.62 percent as Tokyo posted the highest gains with 3.24 percent increase as dealers observed that stocks on both continents reflected the overnight gains of Wall Street, which bodes well for an upbeat global economic outlook.

The Dow Jones climbed by 2.25 percent following the news that pending home sales jumped for three straight months in April as traders started assessing the energy inventories of the United States.

Despite the positive indicators, Mr Sokou said that investors are still wary and it's natural for them to look for clear signals from the US economic figures and inventories report since volatility and uncertainty still overcast the markets.

He is confident though that the energy market has stabilised and a positive report coming from US oil inventories should further push oil prices up to the $US78 per barrel mark.

Pending US home sales saw improvements anew in April as US car makers sent out reports of double-digit spikes in unit sales in May.

Argus Media vice president Jason Feer has affirmed that the oil market is indeed following the solid economic development in the United States and each time such news hit the market, including that from other major economies, "oil has the tendency to follow it up on the assumption that a recovery in economic growth will lead to stronger demand for oil."