By Zhang Mengying

Investing.com – Oil was up on Wednesday morning in Asia amid concerns of uncertain economic outlook ahead of potentially aggressive U.S. interest rate hikes decisions.

edged up 0.14% to $121.34 by 12:48 PM ET (4:48 AM GMT) and edged up 0.15% to $119.11.

Tuesday’s U.S. crude supply data from the showed a build of 0.736 million barrels for the week ended June 10.

Friday’s red-hot inflation data has raised the market expectations of an interest rate hike by 75 basis points, the largest in 28 years.

“An aggressively hawkish signal from the (U.S.) Fed may increase concerns of a global recession, which may dampen the demands of the energy market,” Singapore-based DailyFX analyst Leona Liu told Reuters.

“If the Fed announces a 75-basis-points hike tonight, oil prices may be notably weak against the dollar in the short term as a hawkish Fed may push investors to flow into the safe-haven dollar and hit risk-sensitive assets like oil.”

The new COVID-19 outbreaks in Beijing and the following curbs added worries about the second largest country’s oil demand.

stuck to its forecast that world oil demand will exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2022 in its monthly report.

Investors now await crude supply data from the , due later in the day.