Oil prices rise today supported by China's decisions.

Oil prices rose during trading on Thursday amid low trading volumes due to the ongoing year-end holiday. However, decisions from China and preliminary data from US oil inventories helped oil to expand its gains today.

Current Oil Prices

In terms of trading, Brent crude futures rose by 0.50% to record $73.95 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased by 0.54% to reach $70.48 per barrel.

What influenced oil prices today?

The increase in oil prices today was driven by financial stimulus measures taken by China, as the People's Bank of China announced yesterday that it would inject 300 billion yuan of liquidity into medium-term lending facilities while keeping the yield at 2.0%.

This came after the central government in China granted local officials more flexibility to use government bond revenues to stimulate economic growth, while keeping interest rates unchanged. The government continues to implement a moderately accommodative monetary policy, preparing for stronger measures at the beginning of the next year.

In the United States, preliminary data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that US commercial oil inventories fell by 3.2 million barrels last week.

If the official data released by the US Energy Information Administration confirms these figures, it will represent a fifth consecutive weekly decline in oil inventories. However, US oil inventories typically decline in December before increasing in the early months of the new year.

Overall, Brent crude is heading for an annual decline of about 4%, with the benchmark crude largely trading within a narrow range since mid-October.