Oil prices touched their highest level since March on Tuesday, rising above $47 a barrel after a raft of positive vaccine news sparked a comeback in one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained more than 3 per cent to reach as high as $47.82 a barrel during afternoon trading in London, as traders bet that travel and other energy-intensive industries would pick up in 2021 if coronavirus can be brought under control. That put the marker up more than a quarter so far in November, on course for one of its largest monthly percentage gains in recent decades.

Analysts at PVM oil brokerage in London said that traders were increasingly treating the prospect of vaccines as a “game changer” for the energy sector, though prices still remain well below the near $70 a barrel they traded at before the pandemic.