Oil prices rebounded from recent lows on Monday morning in London, moving higher alongside major stock indexes.
Oil had suffered its worst losing streak since February 2018 in recent weeks, as fears about a slowing pace of economic recovery from the coronavirus set in.
Confidence has somewhat returned, with Brent crude futures (BZ=F) up 2.1% to trading at $66.56 (£48.77) to the barrel by 8.15am in London. Crude futures (CL=F) were also 2% higher, hitting $63.36 to the barrel.
Markets have been erratic in recent weeks, as investors weigh up the risks of inflation, the tapering of central bank stimulus and looming COVID Delta variant caseloads.
"Investors should keep a close eye on tapering situation in order to predict how markets could move in the near future," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was up 0.7% in early trade. The DAX (^GDAX) 0.6% ahead of German flash PMI numbers, which has beat expectations for the last two months.
France's CAC (^FCHI) was also 0.9% higher.
US stock futures pointed to gains at the open, with the S&P 500 (ES=F) set to open 0.4% higher and Nasdaq (NQ=F) and Dow futures (YM=F) also up 0.4%.
The direction of markets this week will also depend on the outcomes of the Jackson Hole symposium taking place on Thursday and Friday.
Overnight in Asia, the Hang Seng (^HSI) headed up 1.1%, the SSE Composite (000001.SS) was 1.4% higher and the Nikkei (^N225) closed 1.8% higher.
Asian markets have seen massive drops in recent weeks, following fears about regulatory crackdowns in China. The Hang Seng had recently fallen as much as 20% below its February peak.
China said it had made progress in containing the Delta variant of COVID, having brought local caseloads to zero.