Crude falls as markets bet inventories will rise in the U.S.

Investing.com - Crude oil futures dipped on Tuesday as market participants traded on expectations stockpiles will rise this week in the U.S. after contracting notably during the previous week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at USD93.03 a barrel on Tuesday, down 0.17%, off from a session high of USD93.80 and up from an earlier session low of USD92.69.

Last week, the Energy Information Administration said that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 11.12 million barrels in the last week of December, well above market calls for a decrease of 919,000 barrels, which sent pricing racing upwards on sentiment demand for fuels an energy may be stronger than once thought.

However, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, is due to release its figures later Tuesday and concerns that both private-sector and official data afterwards reveal rising stockpiles allowed oil prices to relax in mid-session trading on Tuesday.

Soft European economic indicators depresses prices as well.

Eurozone retail sales increased 0.1% in November, according to Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, falling short of market expectations for a 0.3% rise.

Official data also revealed that the unemployment rate in the currency bloc hit a record high of 11.8% in November, in line with market expectations and up from 11.7% in October, which further quelled appetite for risk.

Elsewhere in Germany, the government reported that factory orders fell 1.8% in November, outpacing market expectations for a 1.4% decline thanks in part to slumping overseas demand for the country's goods and services.

Markets were also awaiting Chinese trade balance figures due out later this week as well.

Meanwhile on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for February delivery were up 0.51% at USD111.97 a barrel, up USD18.94 from its U.S. counterpart.