Investing.com - Crude oil futures eked out marginal gains in Asian trade Tuesday, following a meeting between German and French leaders where talks failed to inspire the market on prospects for a turnaround in global energy demand.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for October delivery traded at USD87.35 a barrel during early Asian trade, advancing 0.23%, after hitting a daily low of USD87.12.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met in Paris earlier in the day, on details for a rescue fund for debt-threatened euro-zone members.
But specific details on the expansion of the USD633 billion fund failed to materialize and the leaders of Europe’s two biggest economies concentrated instead on new proposals for budget tightening in the region, as well as the establishment of a euro-zone council to coordinate belt-tightening among the 17 member nations.
Eurostat reported Tuesday that EU gross domestic product grew just 0.2% in the second quarter, under the 0.3% expected from the market.
And German GDP showed a scant 0.1% expansion in the second quarter, below forecasts of a 0.5% gain, and considerably lower than the previous quarter’s growth of 1.3%.
A rise in U.S. industrial production in July, however, helped to provide support for oil futures as the world’s largest energy consumer reported that industrial production had risen 0.9% for the month, outstripping analyst’s predictions of 0.5% gain.
The U.S. industrial production figure measures the change in total outputs of the manufacturing, mining, electric and gas industries.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar rose against its counterparts, with the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, adding 0.24% to 74.22.
Dollar-denominated oil futures tend to fall when the dollar gains, as it makes oil more expensive for buyers in other currencies.
On the ICE Futures Exchange Brent oil futures for October delivery fell 0.03% to trade at USD109.33.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration was scheduled to release weekly figures Wednesday for gasoline and crude oil inventories.