Forexpros – Crude oil futures regained strength on Wednesday, bouncing off the lowest level in almost a week as investors awaited the release of official data on U.S. crude supplies, but gains were limited amid concerns over the strength of the global economy.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at USD99.08 a barrel during European morning trade, gaining 0.62%.
It earlier rose by as much 0.66% to trade at a session high USD99.13 a barrel. Crude prices fell to a four-day low of USD98.27 a barrel on Tuesday.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said that U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.01 million barrels last week, while gasoline stocks declined 0.46 million barrels.
Oil traders were looking forward to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of oil demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The report was expected to show that U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose by 3.0 million barrels last week, while gasoline supplies were forecast to increase by 1.0 million barrels.
Market players were also awaiting data on U.S. non-farm employment change, as well as a report by the Institute for Supply Management on manufacturing activity to gauge the health of the U.S. economy and the need for further stimulus measures.
Ongoing tensions between Iran and the West as well as a disruption to supplies from South Sudan continued to underpin prices.
But gains were limited amid concerns over the health of China’s economy. The country’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.5 in January from 50.3 in December.
However, a separate report from HSBC indicated that Chinese manufacturing activity contracted for the third consecutive month.
Meanwhile, negotiations over a debt restructuring deal between Greece and its private creditors dragged on, showing no fresh signs of progress.
Greece and its international lenders, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, have been in talks for weeks on a debt swap deal. An agreement is necessary for Greece to secure the next tranche of bailout funds in order to prevent a sovereign debt default.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for March delivery rose 0.58% to trade at USD111.60 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD12.52 a barrel.
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