LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell to around $113 per barrel on Thursday, pressured by weaker-than-expected Chinese trade data highlighting concerns over energy demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer.
Brent crude has fallen sharply from highs around $126 per barrel in April due to worries about political turmoil in Europe and a growing conviction that the market is well-supplied.
And while a five-day negative run ended on Wednesday, analysts remained downbeat about prospects for oil.
Brent crude oil futures for June lost 20 cents to $113.00 a barrel by 0855 GMT, after settling at $113.20 on Wednesday, up 47 cents. U.S. crude slipped 35 cents to $96.46.
"Brent seems to be bottoming out since it has not hit the Monday low again," said Carsten Fritsch, oil analyst at Commerzbank. "The downward momentum is losing ground but I do not expect to see much of rebound in the coming days due to physical oversupply and a weak euro zone."
China's exports and imports in April grew at a far slower rate than forecast, government data showed.
Signs of rising U.S. crude inventories added downward pressure, although this was tempered by falling refined fuel stocks in the world's top oil consumer.
"The weak Chinese data is putting more pressure on oil. With demand for oil looking bleak and rising inventories, I don't expect crude oil prices to rebound any time soon," said Miguel Audencial, a trader with CMC Markets in Sydney.
China's trade performance last month was surprisingly weak, and analysts said the government would need to loosen monetary policies to spur expansion or risk missing their annual growth targets.
"If the government does not relax policies further, all factors that dragged growth down in the first three months will still remain in the second quarter," said Jianguang Shen, chief economist at Mizuho Securities Asia in Hong Kong.
China imported 22.26 million tonnes of crude oil in April, down 5.5 percent from 23.55 million tonnes in the previous month, data from China's General Administration of Customs showed.
EURO ZONE, SUPPLY WEIGHS
Oil prices plunged this week on worries that leadership changes in France and Greece could threaten austerity plans seen as key to tackling the euro zone debt crisis.
Fresh concerns over the health of Spanish banks have added to Europe's woes, but Greece appeared to have averted an imminent funding crisis after the board of the European Financial Stability Facility agreed on Wednesday to a scheduled 5.2 billion euro payment.
The euro, however, remained below the $1.3 mark on Thursday after hitting $1.29115 on Wednesday, its lowest since January 23, pressured by fears a political vacuum in Greece could put the highly indebted country on course for insolvency and a messy exit from the euro.
"Greece and the euro-dollar differential has broken the $1.3 level," said Olivier Jakob at consultancy Petromatrix, "Global markets are at risk, putting pressure on Brent, but efforts are being made to stabilise and Iran remains the underlying bullish factor keeping Brent above $110."
Signs of rising supplies globally also weighed on oil prices. U.S. crude oil inventories rose 3.65 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report, more than analyst expectations.
But the inventory boost in the EIA data was much less than a rise of 7.8 million barrels reported by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday.
Gasoline stocks fell 2.61 million barrels and distillate stocks fell 3.25 million barrels, the EIA said.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Wednesday oil markets would remain well supplied even after fresh international sanctions against Iran take effect, as global crude oversupply is already as much as 1.5 million barrels per day.
Saudi Arabia will also be supplying full contracted volumes of crude oil in June to at least three Asian term buyers as an alternative to Iranian crude.
Higher production from Saudi Arabia has partly filled a supply gap caused by lower imports from sanctions-hit Iran.
