Investing.com - Oil futures traded lower during Tuesday’s Asian session, continuing a bearish tone set in Monday trade.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for December delivery fell 0.13% to USD99.55 per barrel in Asian trading Tuesday. The December contract settled lower by 1.41% at USD99.68 per barrel on Monday.
Oil was hampered by Monday by data that showed an increase in oil inventories. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 4 million barrels in the week ended October 4, well above expectations for an increase of 2.2 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 374.5 million barrels, the highest level since July. The report also showed that total motor gasoline inventories declined by 2.6 million barrels, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.1 million barrels.
That data point was delayed by the U.S. government shutdown, but the EIA data is now back on schedule and a fresh batch of inventories data will be released Wednesday.
Oil was also pressured by some slack real estate data. In U.S. economic news out Monday, the National Association of Realtors reported earlier that total existing home sales declined 1.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.29 million units in September from a downwardly revised 5.39 million in August, mainly due to home prices outpacing income growth. Analysts were expecting to see 5.30 million units sold.
Of note to oil traders, the September jobs report for the U.S., originally due out October 4 but delayed because of the shutdown, is due out later Tuesday. Economists expect the addition of 180,000 new jobs and for the unemployment rate to stay at 7.3%.
Elsewhere, Brent crude futures for December delivery inched up 0.02% to USD109.81 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.
