Oil prices gain on falling US inventories

Oil prices climbed on Wednesday as government data showed the U.S. crude inventories decreased last week.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report on Wednesday that U.S. oil inventories fell by 6.2 million barrels last week, beating market consensus of a 3.4-million barrels decline.

Oil prices were further supported as a weaker greenback made the dollar-denominated oil more attractive for holders of other currencies.

The U.S. dollar slumped against other major peers on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.14 percent at 95.881 in late trading.

The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery added 1.29 U.S. dollars to settle at 45.34 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery gained 0.99 U.S. dollars to close at 46.87 U.S. dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. 

Source : XINHUA