Crude edged higher on Thursday, tracking dollar weakness, as the market struggled to find any clear direction but took some comfort in the World Bank’s tempered yet positive outlook on Chinese economic growth.

The World Bank said that China’s fiscal stimulus package would help its economy to grow faster than expected this year - raising its year-on-year gross domestic product growth forecast for China to 7.2 per cent for 2009 - but warned against assumptions that a recovery was in full swing.