Oil rose above $53 a barrel on Friday after surging by nearly 9 percent the day before, as global markets continued to see the outcome of the G20 summit as positive for an eventual recovery from economic recession.

Oil made its largest one-day percentage gain in three weeks on Thursday as markets rallied after world leaders at the summit announced a trillion-dollar deal to act on the economic crisis.

U.S. light crude for May delivery rose 60 cents to $53.24 a barrel by 5:50 a.m. EDT, up from Thursday's $4.25 gain that lifted the contract to $52.64.

London Brent crude rose 68 cents to $53.43.

Market watchers said recent price rises in the crude market in spite of low demand and heavy supply were likely to be a sign of low appetite for risk outside the $40-$50 a barrel range.

Oil has been holding reasonably well since the first of the year at this level, and there's not a lot of fundamental evidence for a sustained move to the upside, said Tony Machacek of Bache Financial in London.

It's holding reasonably well because there is nobody out there who is prepared to aggressively sell the market, Machacek said.

The market on Friday will keep a keen watch on economic data, including U.S. March unemployment, non-farm and manufacturing payrolls, due to be released at 11 a.m. EDT, to gauge the health of the world's largest economy.

A poll showed the ailing U.S. economy probably continued to bleed jobs rapidly in March, driving up the jobless rate at a high pace.

U.S. stocks rallied for a third day on Thursday as more data pointed to a stabilizing economy and changes to an accounting rule were seen as shoring up the volatile financial sector in the short term.

U.S. factory orders rose in February for the first time in seven months, and a rebound in China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) in March showed the Chinese economy may have bottomed, China's chief statistics official said on Friday.

(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Perth, editing by James Jukwey)