Mubasher: Oil prices saw a slide in Wednesday's early trade on a sudden increase in US crude stocks as well as concerns over China's weaker crude demand.

By 3:43am GMT, Brent crude oil futures were lower 53 cents or 1.1% to $47.57 a barrel from $48.10 yesterday.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was traded at $49.53 per barrel, down 0.8% as compared to $49.96 on Tuesday.

Beijing's clampdown on alleged tax evasion in the oil industry is likely to curb the Chinese demand for crude oil, said market analyst Ali Al-Shbeeb.

Moreover, the American Petroleum Institute stated Tuesday that US crude stocks surprisingly rose from 4.5 million barrel to 524.2 million, Al –Shbeeb added.

Along with Saudi Arabia's intention to raise oil production following the attack on Nigeria's oil stocks, these are the main factors behind today's early decline in spite of Iran's positive messages that support a freeze agreement.

Investors are advised to cautiously trade and to hedge against any possible rise in US interest rate during the second half of September, which will likely send US dollar's value higher.