Oil prices jump after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in Syria

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.3 percent to 2,009.42 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6 percent to 5,193.70.

January Brent crude LCOF6, -0.02% on London’s ICE Futures exchange was flat at $46.16 a barrel.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures, the USA crude benchmark, were 53 cents lower at $42.51 per barrel at 1957 GMT, after rising to $43.30 earlier in the session.

Oil prices also held above $43 a barrel on Wednesday in Asian trading following the shooting down of a Russian warplane by Turkey and a slower rise in crude supplies by the oil producing countries.

“The well supplied crude market, record high inventories in OECD and lack of material threat to oil facilities in the Middle East from the military escalation against IS in Syria are going to prevent geopolitical premiums building in oil prices”, BMI said in a note.

He said traders are setting their sights on a meeting on December 4 of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for signs on whether the cartel will slash high production levels which have depressed prices in an oversupplied market.

On Tuesday, crude futures hit two-week highs after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane for alleged intrusion of its airspace, heightening political tensions in the Middle East.

Russian Federation said Turkey had betrayed it and that jets had not violated Turkish airspace, as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation worked to reduce tensions at an extraordinary meeting.

“US crude oil inventories are not increasing as much as before, so this is giving the market some bullish sentiment”, said Daniel Ang, an investment analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore.

Analysts will look out Wednesday on whether U.S. government data matches, exceeds or falls short of the nationwide build of 2.6 million barrels reported by API.

A weaker USA dollar, easing from an eight-month peak against a basket of currencies, also lent support as some investors found it cheaper to buy the dollar-denominated commodity.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 19.51 points, or 0.11 percent, to 17,812.19, the S&P 500 gained 2.55 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,089.14 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.33 points, or 0.01 percent, to 5,102.81.

The jury’s still out on whether last year’s oil slump was a deliberate Saudi move, aimed at killing US shale production.