Oil prices rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
Oil prices rose on Tuesday, reversing the prior session's losses, buoyed by slightly positive market outlooks for the short term and stronger U.S. economic data, despite thin trade ahead of the Christmas holiday.
Brent crude futures were up 33 cents, or 0.5%, to $72.96 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 29 cents, or 0.4%, to $69.53 a barrel at 0422 GMT.
New orders for key U.S.-manufactured capital goods surged in November amid strong demand for machinery, while new home sales also rebounded, in a sign that the U.S. economy is on a solid footing towards the year-end.
In the shorter term, traders are looking for indications of U.S. demand from the crude oil and fuel stockpiles data due from the American Petroleum Institute industry group later on Tuesday.
Analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 2 million barrels in the week to Dec. 20 in a sign of healthy demand. The Energy Information Administration is due to release its data on Friday.
Source: Reuters
