The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.7% to close at 6,789.6 in a solid start to March, posting its biggest intraday percentage gain since Jan. 7.

U.S. Rig Count is up 5 from last week at 402, Canada Rig Count is down 9 from last week to 163,

Brent fell 63 cents, or 0.9%, to $66.25 a barrel. WTI dropped 72 cents, or 1.1%, to $62.81 a barrel.

China had the highest gain in coal imports from the U.S. among the top destinations in the fourth quarter of 2020. The Asian country imported 1.0 Mt of coal from the U.S. during the period, a 251.8% increase year over year and a 748.2% jump quarter over quarter.

The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 2.4% to 5,336.76, while the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2.1% to 3,509.08 points.

Brent gained 37 cents, 0.6%, to $67.41 a barrel. WTI was at $63.54 a barrel, up 32 cents, 0.5%.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 1.3 million barrels to 463.0 million barrels.

Brent fell 35 cents, or 0.5%, to $65.02 a barrel. WTI were down 56 cents or 0.9% at $61.11 a barrel.

Oil demand to reach 102.6 million b/d by the fourth quarter of this year, the highest since Q4 2019 when it averaged 103.9 million b/d.

The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.77% at 14,820.45 by 0450 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.63% to 50,061.21.

Severe cold weather in parts of the USA last week contributed to power outages affecting millions of electricity customers across Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

U.S. industrial production increased 0.9 percent in January.

U.S. Rig Count is unchanged from last week at 397, Canada Rig Count is down 4 from last week to 172

Brent dropped 87 cents, or 1.4%, to $63.06 a barrel. WTI fell 82 cents, or 1.4%, to $59.70 a barrel.

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will exceed natural gas exports by pipeline in the first and fourth quarters of 2021 and on an annual basis in 2022.