Oil Attempts to Find Footing After Bloodbath

Wednesday,   19-Dec-2018   04:35 PM (IST)

In commodities, oil prices attempted to find their footing after suffering one of its biggest falls in years in the last session.U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 5 cents, or roughly 0.1%, at $46.65 a barrel. It tumbled 7.3% on Tuesday to settle at its lowest since August 2017.International Brent crude oil futures rose 18 cents, or 0.3%, to $56.45 per barrel. It dropped 5.6% a day earlier, at one point hitting a 14-month low.Adding to worries about oversupply, the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks rose unexpectedly last week, while gasoline inventories increased.If the build in U.S. crude stockpiles is confirmed by U.S. government data on Wednesday, it will be the first increase in three weeks.Crude oil has lost over a third of its value since October in what has become one of the biggest declines since a price collapse in 2014, with surging supply and the specter of faltering demand scaring off investors.