RTRS:Oil rebounds toward $115, but trend seen downwards
By Claire Milhench
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rebounded on Thursday, with Brent pushing towards $115 after its second-largest drop in two years on Wednesday created buying opportunities and the IEA forecast higher demand and reduced OPEC spare capacity.
But traders and analysts said the overall trend remained downwards, given a stream of negative economic data coming out of the United States, the Greek sovereign debt crisis and rising risk aversion amongst investors, who returned to the safe haven of the U.S. dollar.
"I wouldn't read too much into today's price increase, the overall sentiment is still negative," said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
Brent crude for August, the front-month contract after July expired on Wednesday, was up $1.80 to $114.81 a barrel by 0843 GMT as bargain hunters nipped in.
U.S. crude was up 83 cents to $95.62 a barrel at the same time, following larger-than-expected stock draws week-on-week, according to Energy Information Administration data.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) called on oil-producing group OPEC to raise output, saying that seasonal demand from refiners was set to soar in the third quarter. . It saw a tighter oil market to 2012 than previously expected , but traders were unimpressed.
"I am not sure the IEA report will be enough to create a sustained move to the upside," said Tony Machacek, a trader at Bache Commodities. "I would expect further downside after yesterday's action."
He pointed out that stock markets had also taken a hammering on Wednesday, and the dollar had strengthened as the euro came under sustained pressure.