As investors anticipated the results of the June Federal Reserve meeting, major economic news from China, and official information on US crude stockpiles, oil prices increased modestly in Wednesday's Asian morning session.
By 0340 GMT, Brent crude futures had increased by 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $74.38 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude for the US market was up 1 cent at $69.43 per barrel.
After China's central bank decreased its short-term lending rate, both benchmarks increased by over 3% on Tuesday in anticipation of higher fuel demand.
According to Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst from OANDA in Singapore, it appears that short-term hot monies are reluctant to bid prices higher considering upcoming key events and data like China's sales at retail, industrial production and housing price index for May, which are due tomorrow.
Market participants anticipate that FOMC - the Federal Open Market Committee of the US central bank would suspend rate increases due to uncertainties about the economy's prospects as well as the lingering impacts of the 10 rate increases since March 2022.
Oil prices are impacted by rate hikes because they strengthen the value of the dollar, making goods priced in US dollars more expensive for people using foreign currencies. A break in increases would encourage economic expansion and increase demand for oil, supporting prices.
Following an unexpected 25 basis point hike last week, economists anticipate that the Bank of Canada will boost interest rates once more in July to 5.00%.
Additionally, the European Central Bank is anticipated to increase interest rates by another.25 percentage point on Thursday in an effort to control persistent inflation. But it's anticipated that the Bank of Japan will continue to have an ultra-loose monetary policy when it releases its strategy on Friday.
Contrary to analysts' average prediction of a 500,000 barrel reduction in the week ended June 9, US crude oil stocks increased by nearly 1 million barrels, according to market sources quoting American Petroleum Institute numbers.
Later in the day, official government stockpile data is due.
Russia can now produce more oil under the most recent quotas than had been previously agreed upon since OPEC+ has awarded it a slightly higher oil-producing baseline.