Oil hovers above $81 amid mixed US inventory data
Alex Kennedy, Associated Press Writer
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SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices hovered above $81 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed mixed evidence about U.S. crude demand.
Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 5 cents to $81.54 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 38 cents to settle at $81.49 on Tuesday.
Oil has jumped about 17 percent since early last month on increased investor confidence in this year's global economic growth. But crude demand from the U.S., the world's largest consumer of oil, has remained sluggish.
Crude inventories jumped last week by 6.5 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute said late Wednesday. Analysts, eyeing a cold weather spell in much of the U.S. this month, had expected a drop of 1.6 million barrels, acc
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