SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil prices were hovering below their lowest levels in around five weeks in Asia Wednesday, plagued by renewed worries over the state of global economy and weak demand for petroleum products.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $92.99 a barrel at 0721 GMT, down $0.80 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $1.11 to $115.35 a barrel.
Oil extended a downward trend amid broad selloffs in Asia's financial markets, as market sentiment remained bearish due to weak data on U.S. personal spending and manufacturing activity, while the Australian share market tumbled to an 11-month low.
Latest reports from industry groups in Japan and the U.S. showed rising gasoline stocks, indicating a slowdown of demand in the worlds largest and third-largest oil-consuming nations.
In the week to July 30, Japan's gasoline inventories rose by 177,131 kiloliters to 2.16 million kiloliters, while crude stocks gained 1.20 million kiloliters to 16.59 million kiloliters, the Petroleum Association of Japan said.
The American Petroleum Institute said in a weekly report that gasoline stocks rose last week by 2.549 million barrels and distillates increased by 1.387 million barrels.
"Oil market sentiment is weak because of weak economic conditions," said Yusuke Seta, a Tokyo-based trader with Newedge Japan. "Also, there are sighs of weak demand."
Market participants will next pay close attention to the official weekly petroleum report from the Department of Energy, scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
President Barack Obama finally signed into law a long-awaited bill including an increase of the U.S. debt ceiling and a federal spending cut, but the resolution of U.S. debt issues wasn't able to provide a lift to oil this session.
Although the deal could have pushed prices higher if it was struck two weeks ago, market focus has shifted to weak U.S. economic conditions, "and history might suggest that a recession is a difficult time for austerity," said consultancy Cameron Hanover.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for September--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 413 points to $2.9960 a gallon, while September heating oil traded at $3.0653, 263 points lower.
ICE gasoil for August changed hands at $960.50 a metric ton, down $7.00 from Tuesday's settlement.
-By Max Lin, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-6415-4063; max.lin@dowjones.com
