Oil rises as market awaits Fed interest rate decision

LONDON, June 14 (Reuters): Oil prices rose on Wednesday after bullish oil demand growth forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and OPEC and as investors awaited the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's June meeting.

Brent crude futures were up 95 cents, or 1.3 per cent, at $75.24 a barrel by 1346 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 90 cents, or 1.3 per cent, at $70.32.

Both benchmarks climbed more than 3 per cent the previous day on expectations of rising fuel demand after China's central bank lowered a short-term lending rate.

Market participants expect the US central bank's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to pause interest rate hikes because of uncertainty over the economic outlook and the effects of 10 rate increases since March 2022.

Higher interest rates strengthen the dollar, making commodities denominated in the US currency more expensive for holders of other currencies. A pause in the Fed's rate increases would spur economic growth and oil demand, supporting prices.

"Rates will most likely remain unchanged today when the Fed contemplates its next move, but the more salient question is whether this pause also means that the peak rate of the current cycle has been reached or not," said PVM Oil analyst Tamas Varga.

The IEA, meanwhile, increased its oil demand growth forecast for this year by 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 2.4 million bpd, lifting the projected total to 102.3 million bpd.

However, the agency expects economic headwinds to reduce growth to 860,000 bpd next year and increasing use of electric vehicles to help to reduce that to 400,000 bpd in 2028 for overall demand of 105.7 million bpd.