TOKYO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Crude oil futures rose in early Asian trade on thin volumes after an influential forecaster predicted that a market rally was not far off and U.S. Federal Reserve minutes suggested there was no hurry to raise rates.
The gains added to a surge in prices on Thursday, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, on track for a near 11 percent gain this week, the biggest weekly rise since early 2009.
Brent LCOc1 was up 20 cents at $53.25 a barrel at 0059 GMT. The contract rose $1.72 to close at $53.05 a barrel on Thursday.
U.S. crude CLc1 was 12 cents higher at $49.55 a barrel, after rising 3.4 percent to close at $49.43 a barrel.
U.S. crude is heading for a gain of nearly 9 percent this week, the biggest weekly increase since August.
PIRA Energy Group, a closely watched forecaster that predicted the slump in oil prices a year ago, said on Thursday it expects crude prices to rise to $70 per barrel by the end of 2016 and $75 a barrel in 2017. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1280MY
Also supporting prices was the release of the Fed minutes, which showed that policymakers are concerned that the global economic slowdown may affect the outlook for the U.S. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N12901C
This led investors to further pare bets that the Fed is likely to raise rates later rather than sooner.
Gains in Chinese equities on Thursday, opening after a week long National Day holiday, added to the bullish tone, while Russia's military involvement in Syria has brought a geopolitical risk premium into the market.