Crude oil futures ticked lower during the mid-morning trade in Asia Jan. 21, as data released by the American Petroleum Institute showed an unexpected build in US crude inventories, although the market continued to hold up on the promise of more stimulus and better pandemic management during Joe Biden’s presidency. At 10:51 am Singapore time (0251 GMT), the ICE Brent March contract was down 32 cents/b (0.57%) from the Jan. 20 settle to $55.76/b, while the March NYMEX light sweet crude contract was down 32 cents/b (0.60%) to $52.99/b. The Brent marker had risen 0.32% on Jan. 20 to settle at $56.08/b, with the NYMEX light sweet crude marker also rising 0.62% to $53.31/b. API data released Jan. 20 showed an unexpected 2.56 million-barrel build in US commercial crude inventories in the week […]