Investing.com - Crude oil futures were little changed on Wednesday ahead of an upcoming European Central Bank policy meeting and Chinese economic data on Thursday, as well as U.S. government data on oil inventories later in the trading day.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at USD93.12 a barrel during European morning trade, dipping 0.05%
New York-traded oil prices traded in between a tight range of USD92.86 a barrel, the daily low and a session high of USD93.33 a barrel. Oil futures touched USD93.82 a barrel on January 2, the strongest level since September 19.
Investors remained cautious ahead of Thursday's ECB policy setting meeting. The ECB was widely expected to hold off cutting rates, but some market participants expected the bank to flag the possibility of rate cuts later in the year.
Investors were also anticipating Thursday's trade numbers from China, the world's second largest crude oil consumer, while inflation data was due out on Friday.
Overall market sentiment also remained subdued amid uncertainty over the ongoing U.S. debate about raising the debt ceiling.
New York-traded oil futures climbed 2.5% last week, the fourth consecutive weekly gain and the biggest advance in nearly three months after U.S. lawmakers passed a last-minute bill to avoid the fiscal cliff.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for February delivery slipped 0.10% to USD111.88 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD18.76 a barrel.
Investing.com - Investing.com offers an extensive set of professional tools for the Forex, Commodities, Futures and the Stock Market including real-time data streaming, a comprehensive economic calendar, as well as financial news and technical & fundamental analysis by in-house experts.
Read more News on Investing.com or Follow us on Twitter at @ Newsinvesting
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.