Crude-oil futures are choppy and rangebound in Asian trade Thursday as wary investors weigh falling demand and political turmoil in Europe.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in November traded at $90.29 a barrel at 0537 GMT, up $0.31 in the Globex electronic session. November Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.15 to $110.19 a barrel.
Nymex crude settled 1.52% lower on Wednesday at $89.98/bbl, its lowest settlement value since Aug. 2. Brent crude dropped 41 cents.
"Amid softening market sentiment, profit-taking in the global equity markets is likely to persist as global economic cues remain weak and European feet-dragging concerns resurface, particularly with Spanish protests against austerity measures overnight," Singapore-based OCBC Bank said in a note.
"There should be little impetus for fighting against the current pullback in global risk appetite" due to recent weak economic data, it said.
Data released Wednesday showed that U.S. new home sales for August were weaker than expected, South Korean business confidence was near a 3-year low in October, the Spanish economy slowed in the third quarter, and French consumer confidence fell for a third-straight month in September.
Even if better economic data supports equities markets later this week, Spain and Greece will largely drive oil prices and a weaker euro could push Nymex crude below $90/bbl, energy consulting firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note.
Earlier Thursday, China's central bank said it had injected a record amount of liquidity into the banking system this week, supporting regional markets. The People's Bank of China injected a net 365 billion yuan ($57.9 billion) into the money market this week through its regular open-market operations amid a surge in demand for cash by banks.
Elsewhere, the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan Wednesday agreed to a partial deal that would see oil exports resume, helping to increase global supply.
Today's key economic data releases include U.S. August pending home sales at 1400 GMT, U.S. August durable goods at 1230 GMT, U.S. initial jobless claims data at 1230 GMT, and Q2 U.K. GDP at 0830 GMT.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for October--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 117 points to $3.0694 a gallon, while October heating oil traded at $3.0968, 100 points lower.
ICE gasoil for October changed hands at $970.25 a metric ton, up $8.00 from Wednesday's settlement.
