Oil steady in thin trade

I / Singapore July 5, 2011, 9:44 IST

Oil was up in Asia today in thin trading after US markets were closed for the Independence Day public holiday, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for August delivery, rose 12 cents to $95.06 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for August gained 19 cents to $111.58.

"Basically yesterday the US markets were closed and crude oil prices are quite muted," said Ker Chung Yang, a Singapore-based analyst at Phillip Futures.

Oil prices yesterday were boosted by the progress of eurozone talks to save debt-ridden Greece.

On Saturday, finance ministers approved the next 12-billion-euro slice of a rescue worth 110 billion euros ($160 billion) provided by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Crude traders are waiting for upcoming data from the United States for leads, including a report by the American Petroleum Institute (API) on crude stocks in the world's biggest oil consumer, Ker told AFP.

The API report on US crude stockpiles is usually released a day before the Department of Energy's weekly petroleum reserves data.