Oil prices rose above $76 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as investors mulled whether signs of a sluggish U.S. economy and weak crude demand justify a further sell-off this week, AP reported. Benchmark crude for January delivery, which fell as low as $75.78, was up 47 cents to $76.49 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.54 to settle at $76.02 on Tuesday. Crude has fallen about 7 percent since reaching its high this year of $82 a barrel last month amid evidence economic recovery in the U.S. will be tepid. The Commerce Department on Tuesday revised down third quarter gross domestic product growth to 2.8 percent from 3.5 percent, a disappointing result since economies emerging from recessions often see larger expansions. U.S. crude demand also appears to be stagnant as oil supplies keep growing. Crude inventories jumped more than expected last week, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. Crude stocks rose 3.3 million barrels while analysts had expected a rise of 1.4 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. The Energy Information Administration plans to announce its inventory report later Wednesday. In other Nymex trading, heating oil was up 0.91 cent to $1.96 a gallon. Gasoline for December delivery was steady at $1.94 a gallon. In London, Brent crude for January delivery rose 56 cents to $77.02 on the ICE Futures exchange. 250842 nov 09GMT
