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Crude oil prices rose above $40 per barrel for the first time this year on Monday, March 7, despite the prevailing crude oil glut in the global oil markets.

Brent futures for May delivery sold for $40.60 per barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange as at 9.09 GMT on Tuesday. The futures had climbed $2.12 to $40.48 on Monday, the highest close since December 4.

However, West Texas Intermediate futures for April delivery fell 1.5 percent to $37.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. The contract had gained $1.98 to $37.90 on Monday, the highest close since December 24, according to Bloomberg.

The rally in oil prices comes after the Chinese government set economic growth rate target of 6.5 percent to 7 percent for the next five years, far beyond analysts’ expectations. The move by China also caused other commodities to record strong rallies: iron ore prices rose 20 percent, copper rose 6.9 percent, and aluminium rose 5.3 percent.

Despite this rally in oil prices, analysts are not enthusiastic because the fundamentals of the oil market have not changed.  

US oil stockpiles, for instance, rose by 3.5 million barrels last week to close at 518 million barrels, its highest levels since 1930, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

More so, few oil producing countries have agreed to join the oil-freeze agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar, and Venezuela, last month.

"A large part of the oil price movement in recent days has been short covering, where investors having taken a bet on low prices are insuring themselves against the risk of higher prices,” said Simon French, Chief Economist at Panmure Gordon, a London-based investment bank, to BBC.

“Very little has changed in the oil market to correct the supply glut,” he added.