Crude oil bounces a little after tumbling 6% in NY

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil bounced by around $1 a barrel on Wednesday to claw back some of the previous day’s 6 percent plunge, lifted by a report of an unexpected decline in US commercial crude inventories and record Indian crude imports.

But investors remained on edge, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) warning of unprecedented uncertainty in oil markets due to a difficult economic environment and political risk.

International Brent crude oil futures were at $63.60 per barrel at 0516 GMT, up $1.07 per barrel, or 1.7 percent from their last close.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, were up $1.03 cents, or 1.9 percent, at $54.46 a barrel.

Wednesday’s rebound came after a report by the American Petroleum Institute late on Tuesday that U.S. commercial crude inventories last week fell unexpectedly by 1.5 million barrels, to 439.2 million, in the week to Nov. 16.

Record crude imports by India of almost 5 million barrels per day (bpd) also supported prices, traders said.

Yet Wednesday’s bounce did little to reverse overall market weakness, which saw crude tumble by more than 6 percent the previous session amid a selloff in global stock markets.

“The global economy is still going through a very difficult time and is very fragile,” IEA chief Fatih Birol said on Tuesday.

US investment bank Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday the renewed price collapse reflected “concerns over excess supply in 2019... (and) a broader crosscommodity and cross-asset sell-off as growth concerns continue to mount.”