** S&P 500 energy index up 1.5%, tracking prices of oilO/R

** Brent crude futures LCOc1 up 1.2% at $61.77/barrel; U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 rise 0.8% to $58.68/barrel

** Oil prices rose after strong earnings from Meta and Microsoft supported U.S. equities and offset concerns about the U.S. economy and the prospect of higher OPEC+ oil output

** "It (oil's rebound) can be attributed to the jump in equities due to attractive earnings from Microsoft MSFT.O and Meta META.O and possibly the postponement of the next round of the U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations," says Tamas Varga, analyst at oil broker PVM

** Energy majors Exxon XOM.N and Chevron CVX.N up ~1% and 1.1% respectively

** Diamondback Energy FANG.O , EQT Corp EQT.N , Devon Energy DVN.N and APA Corp APA.O up between 3% and 5.6%; among top percentage gainers on the energy index

** Refiners Marathon Petroleum MPC.N up 1.4%; Valero VLO.N and Phillips 66 PSX.N up marginally

** Oilfield services companies Halliburton HAL.N rises 2%, Baker Hughes BKR.O up 2.3% and SLB SLB.N gains 2.4%

(Reporting by Katha Kalia in Bengaluru)

((Katha.Kalia@thomsonreuters.com))