* Investors await Fed policy meeting outcome, U.S. Q4 GDP
* German consumer morale up for first time in four months
* Coming Up: Weekly API oil inventory data 2130 GMT (Updates throughout, changes dateline, previous SINGAPORE)
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Brent crude oil held above $113 on Tuesday as traders awaited data to gauge the strength of the economy of the United States, the world's largest oil consumer.
Sentiment was boosted on Monday after business spending data from the United States helped reinforce the belief that a recovery was taking root.
Further adding to the positive mood on Tuesday, a poll showed German consumer morale rose for the first time in four months.
Brent crude was down 4 cents at $113.44 a barrel by 1023 GMT, while U.S. crude rose 19 cents to $96.63.
"Growth and recovery news in the United States and Europe are on the positive side this morning. We haven't seen an impact on the crude market so far," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at SEB in Oslo. "The sentiment and the technical analysis are still clearly bullish."
Markets were keenly awaiting the outcome of a two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting as well as first estimates for fourth-quarter gross domestic production (GDP) in the United States on Wednesday.
The Federal Reserve has said it expects to keep short-term interest rates exceptionally low to help support the economy.
MIDDLE EAST TENSION
Persistent tension in the Middle East and Africa also supported oil.
Iran said on Monday it had launched a monkey into space, seeking to show off missile systems that have alarmed the West because the technology could potentially be used to deliver a nuclear warhead.
Also on Monday, suspected Islamist militants attacked an oil pipeline in northern Algeria, killing two guards and wounding seven other people, a security source told Reuters.
In Egypt, the head of the military warned political conflict could lead to the collapse of the state and said protecting the Suez Canal was one of the main objectives of the army deployment to cities shaken by violence.
But, OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said the world oil market should remain well supplied in 2013 and that the OPEC does not need to trim back its oil output.
Oil prices continued to be underpinned by the closure of Hess Corp's New Jersey refinery, news of which boosted U.S. gasoline futures by more than 2 percent on Monday.
The loss of the plant, the latest in the region to fall victim to poor profits, tightened the supply outlook for the U.S. northeast, which is likely to have to rely more on imports and supplies from the Gulf Coast, according to analysts.
Traders were now eyeing data on U.S. crude and oil products stockpiles for clues on demand.
A Reuters survey, taken ahead of weekly inventory reports from the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration, forecast crude stocks had risen by 2.6 million barrels on average for the week ended Jan. 25. Gasoline inventories were forecast to have increased by an average 100,000 barrels for the week. (Additional reporting by Jessica Jaganathan,; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Jason Neely)
