Oil higher in Asia on Chinese, Australian data

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose in Asia Thursday on positive Chinese and Australian data, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, advanced 21 cents to $89.02 per barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for October delivery gained 29 cents to $115.14.

Data earlier Thursday showed China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index jumped to 50.9 in August from 50.7 the previous month, which was the lowest in more than two years. Anything above 50 suggests expansion while a figure below indicates contraction.

Those figures came as Australia released better than expected retail sales figures.

Ker Chung Yang, commodity analyst for Phillip Futures in Singapore, said the data provided some support to oil prices.

The PMI data from China, the world’s largest energy consumer, “suggests that factory activity is stabilising despite the tight monetary conditions at home and listless demand abroad,” he added.

“This would be some of the good news that is boosting the oil prices.”