Oil prices nudged up a couple of cents Thursday as the slightly weaker dollar cancelled fears that the latest increase in Chinese inflation will lead to further monetary tightening and lower demand.

US light crude for April delivery rose 2 cents to $82.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, having fallen as low as $81.26 earlier on.

Consumer price inflation (CPI) accelerated rapidly in China in February, fuelling speculation that the government will call ease stimulus measures. CPI rose to 2.7%, a 16-month high and ahead of January's 1.5%. Analysts had predicted 2.3%.

The rise increase may have been due in part to the timing of Chinese New Year, which fell in February this year.

Wednesday's data revealing a 44.7% in Chinese imports had helped the black stuff top $82.

On the metal markets, April gold added 10 cents to $1,108.20 an ounce, aided by dollar weakness.

Copper also improved on reports of a huge aftershock to last month's earthquake in Chile, the world's largest producer of the red metal.

Related share prices