Oil prices gain on summer demand hopes despite wider economy woes
Oil prices rose on Wednesday, boosted by expectations of firm summer demand in the world's two largest consumers, the United States and China, though gains were capped by analysts' caution about the wider economy.
Prices have seesawed in a tight range as signs of steady demand from an increase in travel during the Northern Hemisphere summer have competed with concerns that U.S. tariffs on trading partners will slow economic growth and fuel consumption.
Brent crude futures rose 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $68.84 a barrel by 0411 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 25 cents, or 0.4%, at $66.77.
That reversed two days of declines as the market downplayed the potential for supply disruptions after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on purchases of Russian oil.
Major oil producers are pointing to signs of better economic growth in the second half of the year while data from China showed consistent growth.
China data showed growth slowed in the second quarter, but less than feared, in part because of frontloading to beat U.S. tariffs. That eased some concerns about the economy of the world's largest importer of crude.
The data also showed that China's crude oil throughput in June jumped 8.5% from a year earlier, indicating stronger fuel demand.
However, some analysts saw the price rebound as temporary.
Much of the steadying of crude markets after two volatile sessions resulted from a mild technical correction rather than any significant shift in underlying fundamentals, said Phillip Nova's senior market analyst Priyanka Sachdeva.
Source : Reuters
