Brent crude prices rise amid Israeli air strikes in Lebanon and

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The price of oil has risen sharply on the back of a massive economic stimulus programme in China as worries about a broader Middle East conflict increase.

The benchmark price of oil rose by about a dollar as news of the latest bout of Israeli bombing in Lebanon broke.

A barrel of Brent crude now costs $75.12, close to the highest point since the start of the month.

Money blog: Millions can get £150 off energy bills

Economic growth expectations, as always, have been impacting prices too.

Top oil importer China announced overnight a new stimulus programme to grow its struggling economy.

Concerns over the slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy, were part of the reason a barrel of Brent crude had hit a near three-year low earlier this month.

CHINA ROLLS OUT STIMULUS TO BOOST FORTUNES

Nicole Johnston

Asia correspondent

@nicole_reporter

China’s central bank has revealed its biggest stimulus package since the pandemic in a bid to revive the country’s flagging economy.

It includes interest rate cuts on new and existing mortgages.

The world’s second-largest economy has been in the doldrums – underpinned by rapid real estate expansion.

For two decades China has been building homes, neighbourhoods and whole cities at an unprecedented pace. But that has come unstuck.

It built too much too fast. Housing became a speculative investment.

Many of these houses and apartments are now empty or unfinished, millions of Chinese have lost their life savings and some of the country’s largest real estate companies have either gone bust or are close to it.

Chinese president Xi Jinping is framing so-called “new productive forces” as one way to drive growth. He is promoting investment in green energy, electric vehicles, solar panels, lithium batteries and advanced…

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