Oil prices have recovered marginally following huge losses in the previous session after official data stated a surprise increase in US inventories, raising concerns of a global oversupply.
Brent crude prices LCOc1 climbed 34 cents to $48.40 a barrel after falling 4.1% in the previous session, while US crude futures CLc1 gained 26 cents to touch $45.98 after suffering 5.1% loss in the previous session, reported Reuters.
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OptionsXpress Sydney market analyst Ben Le Brun was quoted by the news agency as saying: “We are at this stage holding the line nervously near the low levels.
“The situation is complicated by the fact that we have got all these major political-economic watch events on the horizon.”
The UK general election and European Central Bank's (ECB) policy meeting are scheduled to take place today.
Sources told Reuters that ECB policymakers are expected to take a liberal view of the economy and can take steps to ramp-up stimulus.
Earlier, official data showed that US oil and gasoline inventory increased in the last week due to slowdown in refinery operations and fall in exports.
Energy Information Administration said that crude inventories increased by 3.3 million barrels in the week ended 2 June against the expectations of a drop of 3.5 million barrels.
