Crude Oil slightly higher, but still below USD95 per barrel

              Crude Oil futures traded slightly higher in the early part of Monday’s Asian session, but crude remained below the psychologically important USD95 per barrel level after being hammered last week. 

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for December delivery inched up 0.02% to USD94.63 per barrel in Asian trading Monday. The December contract settled lower by 1.84% last Friday. 

On the week, U.S. oil futures lost 3.31% on the week, the seventh weekly decline in the past eight weeks. 

Oil futures were likely to find support at USD93.71 a barrel, the low from June 26 and resistance at USD97.00 a barrel, the high from October 31.

Oil was pressured last Friday despite some positive U.S. data. In U.S. economic news out last Friday, the Institute of Supply Management said Friday that its manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 56.4 in October, the highest since April 2011, from 56.2 in September. Economists had expected the index to tick down to 55.0. 

Traders remained concerned about rising U.S. inventories and weaker demand in the world's largest oil consumer.

Weekly U.S. supply data released earlier in the week showed that crude oil inventories rose by 4.1 million barrels last week to 383.9 million barrels, the highest level since June. 

In global oil news, media reports indicate Israel plans to drill for oil in the West Bank, though there is already speculation regarding how much of the oil there actually belongs to Israel. 

Russia said its oil output averaged 10.59 million barrels per day last month, a record in the post-Soviet era. The country is the world’s largest oil producer. 

Elsewhere, Brent futures for December delivery rose 0.20% to USD106.09 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange. - investing.com