The August crude oil futures contract in NYMEX ACCESS trade at 11:15 hours Tokyo time on Wednesday was at $48.29 per barrel (bbl), up 44cts from the closing price in New York on Tuesday while the August Brent contract in ICE After Hours Trading was at $48.92/bbl, up 34cts. Markets continued to move higher following a trend set during trade in the West on Tuesday where buying got a boost from a 3.60 mil bbl drop in US crude oil inventories as per weekly American Petroleum Institute (API) data. "The draw on inventories was larger than what was expected," Takayuki Nogami, a chief economist at Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC) said. A possible strike by oil and gas workers in Norway over pay also contributed to momentum for buying. Meanwhile, the Nikkei Stock Average gained 222.90 points in Wednesday morning trade rising to 15,546.04 as the dollar strengthened to 102.50 to the yen.

RECX-22 index for Wednesday was at 68.44 points, down 0.04 points from the previous day amid a mix of increases and decreases for indices.