At around 1145am, the September Brent contract on the Intercontinental Exchange was at $99.85 a barrel, up 0.76% from previous close. The August contract of WTI crude on NYMEX rose 0.57% to $96.33 a barrel.
Ravindra Rao, head of commodity research at Kotak Securities, said crude oil has bounced back from recent lows amid a pause in US dollar rally and a halt in equity market sell-off. Supply risks related to Russia and warnings about an energy crisis have also supported prices.
However, a sharp rise in US crude oil stocks, mixed economic data from major economies, fresh lockdown curbs in China, and the US Fed’s monetary tightening outlook have been weighing on prices, Rao said. “The general bias may be on the downside unless we see significant improvement in risk sentiment."
Investors await the US Federal Reserve’s rate hike decision later this month. On Thursday, St. Louis Federal Reserve president Jim Bullard said he favours raising policy interest rate by 75 basis points at the next policy review. The US central bank's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is scheduled to meet on 26-27 July.
Investors had worried that the Fed would hike rates by 100 basis points this month after data released Wednesday showed that US consumer prices rose by a higher-than-expected 9.1% in the year through June, hitting a new 41-year high.
Despite the volatility in the global oil prices, retail prices of petrol and diesel in India have remained unchanged for a while now. In the national capital, petrol sells for ₹96.72 per litre, and diesel is priced at ₹89.62 a litre.
