Oil rises as US, China manufacturing improves

Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 29 cents to US$96.73 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 56 cents to finish at US$96.44 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, fell 9 cents to US$113.39 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline fell 1.4 cent to US$2.927 per gallon.

— Natural gas fell 3.6 cents to US$3.253 per 1,000 cubic feet.

— Heating oil rose 0.2 cent to US$3.053 a gallon.

On Monday, the U.S. reported that demand for long-lasting manufactured goods rose sharply in December. That comes on top of an improved housing picture and strong earnings by major companies. Many analysts think the economy's sluggish recovery will pick up stream by 2014.

China's manufacturing activity has also recently rebounded as the country emerges from its deepest slump since the 2008 global financial crisis. Analysts have all but stopped predicting that the world's No. 2 economy will have a “hard landing,” or a sharp downturn.

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