Oil prices move up Monday morning, as China’s liquidity measures to support the economy stir hope of increased demand from the world’s biggest importer of crude, writes Reuters.

A barrel of European reference crude Brent trades for USD 92.33 Monday morning against USD 91.90 Friday afternoon. US counterpart West Texas Intermediate costs USD 86.20 per barrel against USD 86.04 Friday afternoon.

People’s Bank of China’s decisions to renew loan facilities and maintain the interest rate level are signals that the Chinese central bank will pursue a loose monetary policy.

China has also assured that it will increase domestic energy supply capacity and improve risk controls for a variety of key commodities such as coal, oil, gas and electricity, says an official from the Chinese National Energy Administration to Reuters.

Later this week, new figures for China’s trade and economy will be released. Although Tuesday’s figures for the nation’s GDP will show slight improvement in the third quarter, China is nevertheless headed towards its lowest annual growth figures in nearly half a century.

Going forward, oil prices are expected to stay volatile. The Organization of Oil Exporting Countries’ decision to slash output keep prices up, while a strong dollar and forewarned interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve exert downward pressure.

Elsewhere in commodities, a troy ounce of gold costs USD 1,642.9 Monday morning against USD 1,648.51 Friday afternoon.

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