Oil prices higher in Asian trade over US, China data

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose in Asian trade Wednesday on a weaker dollar and positive economic data from major crude consumers China and the United States as well as Germany, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in February, gained 43 cents to $101.14 in morning trade.

Brent North Sea crude for March delivery was up 26 cents to $111.79.

However, Phillip Futures said in a commentary that “concerns about Europe’s economy after last week’s credit downgrade limited gains”.

The euro was trading at $1.2777 against the US dollar in early Asian trade from $1.2737 in New York late Tuesday.

A weaker greenback makes dollar-priced crude more attractive to traders using other currencies, boosting demand and pushing prices up.

Meanwhile, official data Tuesday showed China’s economy growing 8.9 percent in the last quarter of 2011, higher than analyst expectations of 8.6 percent although it was lower than figures for the previous three months.

In the US, sentiment was also boosted by the Federal Reserve’s Empire State index of manufacturing activity in New York, which showed a pick-up in January that exceeded expectations.

The United States is the world’s largest oil consumer while China is the global leader in energy consumption.

Traders were also heartened by the ZEW think tank’s expectations index, which showed German investor confidence rose sharply in recent weeks and suggested Europe’s top economy remains resilient to the eurozone crisis.

Nevertheless, traders were closely monitoring the situation in the eurozone after Standard & Poor’s cut the ratings of top European countries last week and that of the European Financial Stability Facility this week.