Oil prices fall owing to inflation fears, but expected stock prices rise

Under pressure from global central bank efforts to contain inflation and in anticipation of forecasted increases in U.S. petroleum inventories as a result of decreasing product demand, oil prices dipped modestly in early Asian trading on Wednesday.

Brent oil prices lost 39 cents, or 0.5%, to $106.96 per barrel at 00:45 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices decreased 62 cents to $103.60 per barrel.

Approximately 1.9 million barrels were added to U.S. oil stocks for the week ending July 15, according to market sources citing Tuesday's data from the American Petroleum Institute.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to announce official weekly oil and gasoline inventory numbers on Wednesday at 15:30 GMT.

The U.S. 3:2:1 and gasoline crack spreads, which are measures of refining profit margins, reached their lowest levels since April on Tuesday, indicating a fall in fuel demand.

Oil prices bounced drastically in the previous session, caught in a tug-of-war between supply worries due to Western sanctions against Russia and pressures on central bankers' indications that they may increase interest rates to combat inflation.

Friday marked the lowest level of open interest in New York Mercantile Exchange futures since September 2015, as investors cut risky assets such as commodities out of anxiety that the Federal Reserve will continue to raise U.S. interest rates.