Oil turns lower in Asia but stays above $75

Oil prices turned lower in Asian trade today on profit-taking and as investors realised that the US economic recovery remained weak despite the Federal Reserve chief's reassurances, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, was down seven cents to $75.10 a barrel, and Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October dipped nine cents to $76.56.

Both contracts had posted gains in morning trade, extending gains from Friday following reassurances by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on the US economy, but failed to gain traction.

"There was some profit-taking because Ben Bernanke's reassurances are just simply words," said Victor Shum, senior principal for energy consultants Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

"The reality is that the US economic outlook hasn't changed... What Bernanke managed to do with his words was to momentarily stop a lot of the bearish sentiment in the market," he said.

Shum said recent economic data coming out of the United States points to a weak economic recovery in the world's biggest economy.

In a highly anticipated speech, Bernanke said prospects for a US growth pick-up appeared to "remain in place" despite a sharp cutback in the pace of second-quarter economic expansion.

Bernanke added that the Fed would take more "unconventional" steps to boost growth if the economic outlook "deteriorated significantly".

Shum said a rally in Asian stocks helped minimise the dip in oil prices. "In the absence of significant news events, the oil market looks to equities for guidance," he said. "This has added more volatility to oil because equities are influenced by daily economic data."