2024-01-24T04:53:26+00:00
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/ Oil prices fell on Wednesday, affected by concerns about weak demand and the rise of the dollar, although escalating geopolitical tensions limited losses.
The front-month Brent crude contract for March delivery fell 14 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $79.41 a barrel by 0333 GMT.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 11 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $74.26 a barrel.
Crude inventories fell by 6.67 million barrels in the week to Jan. 19, according to market sources citing figures from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday. But gasoline stocks rose by 7.2 million barrels, raising concerns about fuel demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the United States. The Department of Energy will release the data later on Wednesday.
The US is stronger and the dollar has also weighed on oil prices as demand from buyers in other currencies has fallen as they have to pay more for dollar-denominated oil.
The dollar index hovered near a six-week high against its major peers on Wednesday as investors boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve will be in no rush to cut interest rates in the face of a resilient U.S. economy.