SINGAPORE: Oil prices reached a fresh one-year high near $76 a barrel Thursday in Asia on a weaker US dollar and growing investor optimism about an economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for November delivery was up 72 cents to $75.90, the highest since October 2008, by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added $1.03 to settle at $75.18 on Wednesday.

Oil investors have fed off rising stock markets and a falling dollar this week to break out of a $65 to $75 trading range that has held since May.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.5 percent Wednesday to above 10,000 for the first time in a year on encouraging earnings reports from Intel Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Most Asian stock indexes gained in early trading.

Meanwhile, the euro rose to $1.495 in early Asian trading from $1.4933 the previous day while the dollar gained to 89.46 yen from 89.34. Oil is traded in US dollars and its price tends to rise when the dollar falls.

"There's a perception that the economy is getting stronger and the dollar is getting weaker," said Gerard Rigby, an energy analyst with Fuel First Consulting in Sydney. "But we haven't seen a real improvement in demand just yet."

US oil inventories fell unexpectedly last week, the American Petroleum Institute s barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Gasoline supplies declined 2.7 million barrels, the API said, while analysts had anticipated a 1.6 million barrel gain.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 2.43 cents to $1.97 a gallon. Gasoline for November delivery gained 2.77 cents to $1.89 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery jumped 4.5 cents to $4.48 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude rose 54 cents to $73.64 on the ICE Futures exchange.