NEW YORK, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Crude prices rose on Wednesday as the U.S. Federal Reserve announced more easing policies after its last policy meeting of the year.
Markets sentiment was boosted by the Fed's new moves. The Fed ended its two-day policy meeting Wednesday and decided to leave the interest rates at near zero as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6.5 percent.
The U.S. central bank said it planned to buy Treasury bonds at a pace of 45 million dollars per month in 2013, in addition to the agency mortgage-backed securities buying plan, which was announced in September and was conducted at a pace of 40 billion dollars per month.
The Fed's new stimulus policies reinforced its commitment to improving labor markets and offering support to economic growth by reducing borrowing costs.
The markets had been speculating that the Fed would adopt more easing policies amid the fiscal cliff uncertainties, but investors were still surprised that it acted so soon.
Also, the U.S. largest refinery located in Texas caught fire overnight because of a fractured pipe, which served as another factor to boost the oil prices.
But the gains were limited as the weekly report showed U.S. crude oil inventory rose last week. The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday the U.S. crude inventories increased 0.8 million barrels in the week ending Dec.7 after a 2.4-million- barrel fall in the previous week, thanks to increases in both oil imports and domestic output.
Gasoline and distillates stocks added another 5 million barrels and 3 million barrels, respectively.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) left its daily crude production ceiling at 30 million barrels per day unchanged at a meeting Wednesday. However, the actual output is expected to be one million barrels higher than the target as some member countries produce more than their limits. OPEC predicted less oil demand for 2013, citing the weak economy of the consumer countries.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery added 98 cents, or 1.14 percent, to settle at 86.77 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude for January delivery gained 1.55 dollars to 109.56 dollars a barrel.
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