20.01.202119:06:00UTC+00Crude Oil Futures Settle Higher On Stimulus Hopes

Crude oil prices rose on Wednesday amid hopes the Joe Biden-administration will step up stimulus to boost growth, which in turn will result in increased demand for energy.

A weak dollar too contributed to oil's uptick. However, oil's uptick was limited due to surging coronavirus cases in several countries and on reports saying authorities at many places across the world are looking to tighten lockdown measures to curb infections.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures contracts for February ended up $0.26 or about 0.5% at $53.24 a barrel on the expiration day.

WTI crude futures new front-month contract for March settled at $53.31 a barrel, gaining $0.33 or about 0.6% for the session.

Joe Biden has already outlined a $1.9 trillion economic relief package last week to jump-start the economy.

Already, new U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has pledged to "act big" on stimulus to reinvigorate the economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Weekly oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and Energy Information Administration (EIA) are due later today, and Thursday morning, respectively.