By Surabhi Sahu Crude-oil futures were mixed in Asian trade Thursday, with Nymex underpinned by positive U.S. oil-inventory figures and upbeat China manufacturing data, while the European benchmark was weighed down by the bearish impact of a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Hamas. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at $87.53 a barrel at 0633 GMT, up $0.15 in the Globex electronic session. January Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.09 to $110.77 a barrel. The truce between Israel and Hamas has put an end to the intense fighting and eased fears of supply risks from the Middle East, a Tokyo-based trader said, noting that some risk premium has been wiped out. Energy Information Administration's inventory report Wednesday and China data Thursday underpinned prices, a second-Tokyo based trader said. However, "I don't expect big market moves today as the U.S. markets are closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday," he said, tipping resistance for Nymex at $88.50 a barrel. For the week ended Friday, crude and gasoline stockpiles both fell by 1.5 million barrels, EIA said. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had predicted a rise. HSBC's preliminary China manufacturing purchasing managers index for November rose to 50.4 compared with a final reading of 49.5 for October, signaling an expansion for the Chinese economy for the first time in 13 months. "China's oil demand is recovering and we expect refinery runs to increase in the first quarter of 2013 due to increased capacity," Sijin Cheng, vice president of research at Barclays, said, noting this will support oil prices. October crude imports totaled 23.68 million metric tons, up 13.8% on year, China's General Administration of Customs confirmed Wednesday. Societe Generale said in a note late Wednesday that it expects the Brent-WTI spread to narrow as WTI prices will likely edge higher due to a drop in stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma. "We are forecasting a WTI-Brent discount of $15 in 1Q and 2Q 2013, narrowing to $12.50 in Q3 and $10 in 4Q," it said. The next data point will come from Europe as traders await euro-zone PMIs later in the global day. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for December--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 6 points to $2.7501 a gallon, while December heating oil traded at $3.0720, 2 points lower. ICE gasoil for December changed hands at $951.75 a metric ton, up $0.25 from Wednesday's settlement. Write to Surabhi Sahu at surabhi.sahu@dowjones.com

Source