LONDON—Oil prices held to a tight range ahead of a report on weekly U.S. oil inventory data later in the day.
Ahead of the New York day, the front-month August Brent contract, due to expire Thursday, on London's ICE futures exchange was down 63 cents, or 0.5%, at $117.12 a barrel. The front-month August contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up three cents at $97.46 a barrel.
Crude oil futures had risen earlier as the dollar weakened against the yen and later the euro following a stronger-than-expected gross domestic product reading from China, as talks on the U.S. debt ceiling faltered ahead of an Aug. 2 deadline and as the European Central Bank bought up Spanish and Italian debt. Weakness in the U.S. currency typically translates into stronger oil prices as the dollar-priced commodity becomes cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Later in the day, market participants will turn to the U.S. Department of Energy report on oil stockpiles. A report from the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday showed stockpiles increased 2.3 million barrels.
Analysts expect the DOE report to show oil stocks last week fell 1.3 million barrels, according to a poll by Dow Jones Newswires. Gasoline inventories rose 100,000 barrels, according to the analysts' average estimate. Inventories of distillates, including heating oil and diesel, rose 200,000 barrels.
Once the DOE's are out of the way, participants will resume their focus on macroeconomic data releases and euro-zone debt news, said Andrey Kryuchenkov, vice president of commodities research at VTB Capital.
Separately, the International Energy Agency said it will assess next week whether it needs to release more oil from emergency reserves, on top of the 60-million barrel release announced last month.
Write to Selina Williams at selina.williams@dowjones.com
