The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its crude oil inventories data on Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels to 541.3 million in the week to May 13.

Analysts had expected U.S. crude oil inventories to decline by 3.16 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories decreased by 2.5 million barrels, according to the EIA.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, climbed by 461,000 barrels.

U.S. crude oil imports increased by 22,000 barrels per day.

Refineries in the U.S. were running at 90.5% of capacity, up from 89.1% the previous week.

Oil production fell by 0.1% last week to 8.791 million barrels a day from 8.802 million barrels a day in the previous week.

According to Reuters calculations based on data from China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), average new home prices in 70 major cities climbed at an annual rate of 6.2% in April, after a 4.9% gain in March. It was the fastest annual rise since April 2014.

The main contributor was Shenzhen, where home prices jumped by 62.4% year-on-year in April.

On a monthly base, house prices increased in 65 of 70 cities, while prices slid in 5 cities, according to the NBS.

The monthly rise was mainly driven by higher prices in Hefei, which climbed 5.8% in April.

(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Oil 48.59 +0.58%

Gold 1,280.30 +0.27%