Crude-oil futures were slightly higher in Asian trade Tuesday on the back of a weaker U.S. dollar and gains in regional equities, which were buoyed by strong U.S. retail sales data.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in November traded at $91.96 a barrel at 0724 GMT, up $0.11 in the Globex electronic session. November Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.29 to $116.09 a barrel.
Asian stocks took their lead from the U.S., where better-than-expected retail sales helped push the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 0.7% overnight, its biggest percentage gain in over a month.
"The macro factor appears to have taken a turn for the positive in our view, given positive Chinese trade data and the favorable U.S. numbers," Jim Ritterbusch at Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note.
"Additionally, broadening European sanctions on Iran would appear to represent a bullish consideration but also one that appears much more relevant to Brent than WTI," he said.
Brent's premium to West Texas Intermediate--the contract traded on Nymex--has already gained support from production problems in the North Sea oil field. The front-month European benchmark is trading around $24 higher than its U.S. counterpart compared with $16 a month ago and $11 in late June.
The euro is trading at 1.2995 compared with 1.295 late in New York, providing additional support to crude, as dollar-denominated commodities are cheaper for holders of other currencies when the greenback is weak.
European Union foreign ministers have formally approved a fresh, wide-reaching package of sanctions against Iran. The sanctions, seen as the toughest set of measures against Tehran since the EU's embargo on Iranian oil imports in July, is the latest effort by the 27-member bloc to bring Iran back to the negotiating table after half a year of deadlocked talks and target financial institutions, trade, energy and shipping.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for November--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 89.99999 points to $2.8593 a gallon, while November heating oil traded at $3.2141, 50 points higher.
ICE gasoil for November changed hands at $1005.75 a metric ton, up $8.00 from Monday's settlement.
Write to Gurdeep Singh at gurdeep.singh@dowjones.com
