03:26 PM EDT, 09/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks rose late Thursday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index advancing 1.5% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) gaining 1.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index climbed 2.3%, while the Dow Jones US Utilities index shed 0.6%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.4% to $71.90 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent advanced 1.4% to $74.69 a barrel.

US natural gas stocks in the week ended Friday rose 58 billion cubic feet, above the 54 billion increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following a gain of 40 billion in the previous week.

Henry Hub natural gas futures advanced 2.7% to $2.35 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Vistra ( VST ) shares rose 1.6%, a day after the company agreed to buy the combined 15% equity interest in its Vistra Vision unit held by affiliates of Nuveen Asset Management and Avenue Capital Management II for $3.25 billion in cash.