Oil rebounds in Asia on bargain-hunting

SINGAPORE: Oil rebounded in Asian trade Tuesday on bargain-hunting following an overnight decline, but analysts said economic worries in energy guzzlers US and China would continue to weigh on sentiment.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June gained 24 cents to $95.41 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was up 14 cents to $102.96 in morning trade.

"Oil has rebounded primarily because traders think it is a good buying opportunity," Victor Shum, managing director of IHS Purvin and Gertz in Singapore, told.

"But in the short term, weak economic data from the US and China are going to put more downward pressure on prices, as opposed to the market turning bullish," he added.

Oil prices fell overnight on fresh signs of economic weakness in China and the United States -- the world's largest crude consumers.

A trio of Chinese economic data -- on industrial production, retail sales and fixed-asset investment released Monday -- raised alarms about the pace of growth in the world's second-largest economy.