Crude oil holds near 2-week low on China, U.S. demand concerns

Investing.com - Crude oil futures were little changed near the previous session’s two-week low on Thursday, after Chinese and U.S. data fuelled concerns over an economic slowdown in the world's top two oil consumers.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at USD91.10 a barrel during European morning trade, little changed on the day.

New York-traded oil prices held in a range between USD90.66 a barrel, the daily low and a session high of USD91.19 a barrel.

Nymex prices lost more than 2% on Wednesday to hit a two-week low of USD90.14 a barrel, after a U.S. government report showed oil supplies rose to the highest level since 1982, underlining concerns over a slowdown in demand.

U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 6.7 million barrels last week, surging past expectations for an increase of 1 million barrels.

Weaker-than-expected data on U.S. employment and manufacturing activity released Wednesday further weighed on growth-linked assets.

Meanwhile, in China, data released earlier showed that China’s final HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index was revised down to 50.4 in April from a flash reading of 50.5 and down from 51.6 in March.

The disappointing data came one day after a government report showed that China’s manufacturing purchasing managers' index ticked down to 50.6 in April from 50.9 in March.

China is the world's second largest oil consumer after the U.S. and has been the engine of strengthening demand. Manufacturing numbers are often used as indicators for future fuel demand growth.

Investors now looked ahead to the outcome of the ECB’s policy meeting later Thursday, as well as Friday’s closely watched report on U.S. nonfarm payrolls.

The Federal Reserve recommitted to its USD85 billion a month asset purchase program following Wednesday’s policy meeting and indicated that it could increase or decrease the monthly amount, depending on the outlook for inflation and employment.

Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for June delivery added 0.2% to trade at USD100.16 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD9.06 a barrel.

The gap between the contracts fell to the lowest level since December 2011 earlier in the week, amid an improving production outlook in the North Sea and indications of declining stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for Nymex oil futures.