U.S. crude futures were on track for a gain of nearly 9pc for the week, the biggest percentage gain since October. Brent was on track for 6pc weekly gain.
Lending some support to gold were worries over a surge in global coronavirus cases, which surpassed 100 million, as countries struggle with vaccine shortfalls.
Indian shares also slid more than 1% as Amazon sought to block the sale of Future Group's $3.4 billion retail assets to Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries. Markets were closed on Tuesday for a public holiday.
Still, oil price losses were curbed by plans for US President-elect Joe Biden to announce trillions of dollars in new virus relief bills this week, much to be funded through increased borrowing.
Bitcoin was sitting at $32,400 after seeing recent wild swings, that saw it hit a record near $35,000 before diving to $28,000 within the space of a day.
The yuan crept up after China's central bank lifted its official guidance level to the highest in 30 months , to as high as 6.5280 against the dollar in the onshore market, but was last unchanged at 6.5408.
Official data showed robust growth in profits at China's industrial firms in November, their seventh straight month of gains, supported by strong industrial production and sales, as manufacturers continue their recovery from the COVID-19 downturn.
A big jump in US crude stockpiles served as a reminder that there is still plenty of supply available, but was all but ignored as bulls ran through the market this week.