Oil prices extend gains, rise by 3%

Oil prices extended gains on Wednesday, rising by nearly 3% as counting continued for the US presidential election.

In what is developing to be a tight race, both Donald Trump and rival candidate Joe Biden have expressed confidence in victory.

Investors are also following the COVID-19 updates as more countries enforce stricter travel restrictions to control the spread of coronavirus.

In terms of trading, Brent crude was up 2.9% at $40.83 a barrel, at 1 pm Makkah time.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also gained 2.9% to $38.76 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the official data on US crude inventory is due from the Energy Information Administration later today.

According to data from the American Petroleum Institute, US crude stockpiles fell by 8 million barrels last week.