Brent crude tops $40/bbl after Biden clinches U.S. presidency

* Joe Biden clinches U.S. presidency
* Global coronavirus cases tops 50 mln; Oct worst month -
Reuters

By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices gained more than 2%
on Monday, with Brent futures rising above $40 a barrel, after
Joe Biden clinched the U.S. presidency and buoyed risk appetite,
offsetting worries about impact on fuel demand from the
worsening coronavirus pandemic.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 for January climbed 82 cents, or
2.1%, to $40.27 a barrel by 0101 GMT, while U.S. West Texas
Intermediate crude CLc1 for December was at $37.98 a barrel,
up 84 cents, or 2.3%.
Prices recovered from a 4% decline on Friday, rising along
with other financial markets after Biden emerged as the winner
in the U.S. presidential race on Sunday.
"Trading this morning has a risk-on flavour, reflecting
increasing confidence that Joe Biden will occupy the White
House, but the Republican Party will retain control of the
Senate," Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC
Markets in Sydney. "The outcome is ideal from a market point of
view. Neither party controls the Congress, so both trade wars
and higher taxes are largely off the agenda."
McCarthy added that investors' focus is likely to turn to
the renewed coronavirus outbreaks now that the U.S. election is
out of the way.
U.S. President-elect Biden and his team are working on
tackling the worsening health crisis. The United States became
the first nation worldwide since the pandemic began to surpass
10 million COVID-19 infections, according to a Reuters tally on
Sunday. Separately, U.S. oil production is set to climb as producers
are tapping into a backlog of drilled wells left uncompleted
(DUCs) to boost output. The number of operating oil and gas rigs
in the United States rose for an eighth week last week,
according to Baker Hughes.