Activity in China's manufacturing sector quickened for the first time in 13 months in November, a survey of private factory managers found, adding to evidence of a pickup after seven quarters of slowing growth.

China's data "has been broadly supportive of risk markets and entirely consistent with recent numbers suggesting overall improvement in growth," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst, CMC Markets in Sydney.

"The market will continue to build a significant risk premium on the probability of disruptions to oil supplies from the Middle East," he added.

Front month Brent futures were trading 34 cents up at 111.57 per barrel at 0309 GMT, after rising 2.3 percent in November. It rose to a high of $111.70 per barrel immediately after the China data release.

US crude added 20 cents to $89.11 per barrel. The contract has broken through a key resistance at $88.75 and could rise to $89.80, according to Wang Tao, Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.