By Vadim Iossub, Alpari

After falling to $47.2 per barrel of Brent, oil prices yesterday began to recover. When the API oil reserve report came out towards the end of the day, oil received an additional support by the figures (-6.73 million barrels) and lifted to $48.8-49.3. This evening will see the next portion of oil reserve stats served up from the EIA.

The Asian stock markets are travelling in different directions this morning, showing on the one hand that the recent short-lasting rally is coming to an end, and on the other that traders aren”t running from risks. The markets are gradually normalising and are starting to live each to their own. The Nikkei 225 fell by 0.5%. The ASX Australia was up 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.3%, and the Hang Seng increased by 0.8%. Futures for the S&P500 were trading at 2093; close to the previous trading day.

The USD was trading slightly down against the yuan at 6.6848 (-0.0038 or -0.06%).

The EUR/USD on Wednesday restored to 1.1110 after a fall to 1.1030. It closed the day up. During the Asian session, the pair was trading without any clear direction in a 1.1075-1.1105 range. Today there will be an important set of information out on industrial production in the UK, the ECB is publishing data regarding its less monetary policy meeting and the US is releasing its weekly labour market statistics.

Article submitted by Alpari.com