Crude Oil Ends Higher On Middle East Concerns

(RTTNews) - U.S. crude oil snapped a four-day loss to end higher Tuesday, on geopolitical concerns and a fairly encouraging report on the Chinese manufacturing sector, even as the dollar trended lower against some major currencies.

Oil prices got a further boost as the conflict in the Middle East took a new turn with the U.S. airstrikes on Islamic militants in Syria.

Meanwhile, Israel said its military shot down a Syrian fighter jet in its airspace over the Golan Heights.

Investors also await the weekly oil reports on U.S. inventories. Later today, the American Petroleum Institute will release its oil report for the week ended September 19, while the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its inventory data on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, OPEC has not taken a decision as yet on cutting its oil production target, according to reports.

Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for November delivery, the most actively traded contract, gained $0.69 or 0.8 percent to close at $91.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday.

Crude prices for November delivery scaled a high of $92.09 a barrel intraday and a low of $90.58.

On Monday, crude oil futures ended lower, extending losses to a fourth successive session, on demand growth concerns amid fears of a supply glut. Disappointing economic data including an unexpected drop in U.S. existing home sales and a drop in eurozone consumer confidence also contributed to oil's decline yesterday.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 84.66 on Tuesday, down from its previous close of 84.70 late Monday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 84.76 intraday and a low of 84.37.

The euro trended higher against the dollar at $1.2861 on Tuesday, as compared to its previous close of $1.2849 late Monday in North American trade. The euro scaled a high of $1.2901 intraday and a low of $1.2844.

In economic news from Asia, China's manufacturing sector expanded at an accelerated pace in September, coming in with a score of 50.5, the preliminary PMI reading from HSBC and Markit Economics revealed on Tuesday. That was up from 50 .2 in August.

From the eurozone, the German private sector expanded for the 17th straight month, while business confidence in France weakened slightly in September.

However, eurozone business activity in September grew at its slowest pace this year. The composite output index of the purchasing managers' survey fell to a nine-month low of 52.3 in September from 52.5 in August, preliminary data from Markit Economics showed Tuesday. The reading was expected to remain unchanged at 52.5.