ICE Brent drops towards $71 on US inventories

Brent crude oil futures eased towards $71 on Thursday, their second consecutive session of losses, after an unexpected build in US crude stocks.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday crude stockpiles rose last week, confounding analysts'
expectations of a drop and indicating economic recovery in the world's top oil user may not be as resilient as thought.

"Investors are perhaps taking some money off the table after weeks of steady gains," MF Global wrote in a research note. "We could even see further weakness in energy before the current selling runs its course."

"The 'recovery trade' still seems to be intact, and should reinvigorate the markets, particularly if U.S. macro data continues to reflect the types of numbers that now seem to be surprising more consistently to the upside," MF Global also noted.