Oil prices tumbled in Asia Thursday after U.S. commercial crude stockpiles climbed to a record level, further stoking worries about a global oversupply of the commodity.

Prices had closed higher over the past two trading days, buoyed by hopes of stimulus measures in the eurozone and Japan, but analysts said any rally is unlikely to be supported because of the long-running supply glut.

Deutsche Bank on Thursday confirmed a net loss of 6.8 billion euros last year, as Germany's top lender was weighed down by enormous restructuring costs, risk provisions and lower income.

Losses in the fourth quarter alone amounted to 2.1 billion euros ($2.3 billion), said Deutsche Bank, which had already published most of its financial results last week.

A deal which will see French carmaker Peugeot return to the Iranian market will be signed Friday during the visit to France of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a French government source said.

Peugeot and its French partner Citroen will work with Iran's Khodro to produce 200,000 vehicles a year using parts manufactured in Iran.

By abandoning the tight rein it held for decades on the oil market, OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia launched a battle for control that sent crude prices plummeting.

It has been a painful fight, experts say, but with its vast resources the Gulf kingdom is showing no signs of giving up.

The German central bank, or Bundesbank, said Wednesday that it brought home last year more of its gold reserves from overseas storage.

"The Bundesbank successfully continued its transfers of gold last year," the central bank said in a statement.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved the disbursement of 126.3 million euros ($137.4 million) to Cyprus after the eurozone member passed its ninth and penultimate review of its bailout programme.

"Completion of the review would make about 126.3 million euros available to disbursement, which brings total disbursements under the program to about one billion euros," said the IMF.

The dollar slipped against the yen and most emerging currencies Wednesday as markets focus on the Federal Reserve's first meeting of the year.

The U.S. central bank is not expected to announce any change in monetary policy after the meeting ends later Wednesday, following its historic interest rate raise in December.

The World Bank warned Tuesday that slowing emerging-market economies were hampering an oil recovery, and prices could sink further in a blow to a "fragile" global economy.

Crude oil in 2016 is projected to come in at $37 a barrel, down from its October estimate of $51, the World Bank said in a new quarterly report.

The United States is expanding authorized  exports to Cuba in the latest incremental steps to ease a Cold War-era trade ban on the communist-ruled island, the U.S. Treasury said Tuesday.

The rule changes, which go into effect Wednesday, will allow more U.S. exports related to disaster preparedness, education, agricultural production, food processing, public transportation and artistic endeavors.

Global crude prices should recover near the end of this year, the president of the world's biggest oil exporter, Saudi Aramco, said on Tuesday.

"Our prediction is that we will see some adjustment but it will happen toward the end of this year," Amin al-Nasser, president and chief executive officer of the state-owned company, told a business forum in the Saudi capital.