Oil rises to near $82/barrel as China manufacturing grows

BANGKOK (AP) — Oil prices rose to near $82 a barrel Monday in Asia as regional stock markets jumped on news that growth in Chinese manufacturing picked up pace in October.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up 42 cents at $81.85 a barrel at late morning Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 75 cents to settle at $81.43 on Friday.

The pickup in Chinese manufacturing suggests that China’s economic recovery remains on track, bolstering expectations that its demand for crude will offset weakness in advanced economies.

The figures boosted Asian stock markets which were mostly higher Monday.

Crude has been stuck in a range of about $80 to $83 a barrel for the past week, as traders and investors wait for the Federal Reserve to say what it will do to stimulate the US economy.

Expectations the Fed will Wednesday announce a Treasury bond buying program to pump money into the ailing economy were reinforced by lackluster third quarter US growth figures released last week.

In other energy trading on the Nymex, heating oil was up one cent to $2.25 a gallon. Gasoline dropped two cents to $2.06 a gallon and natural gas added 6 cents to $4.10 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Brent crude was up nine cents at $83.24 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London.

Meanwhile, manufacturing activity in China hit a six-month high in October, an independent survey showed Monday, in a sign that a recovery of the world’s second-biggest economy has further consolidated.

The HSBC China Manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 54.8 in October from 52.9 in September as production and new orders continued to rise.

An official survey from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) showed that PMI rose to 54.7 last month from 53.8 in September.

A reading above 50 means the sector is expanding, while anything below 50 indicates a decline.

China’s economy grew 9.6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, down from 10.3 percent in the second quarter and 11.9 percent in the first as government efforts to rein in property prices and bank lending started to bite.

Analysts have said th date showed success in efforts to steer the country towards more sustainable growth, less dependent on exports.

The pick-up in manufacturing activity in October showed that “the economy has likely stabilized further at a high level,” government analyst Zhang Liqun said in a statement releasing the CFLP data.

Hong Kong-based HSBC chief economist Qu Hongbin attributed the upbeat reading to “strong growth momentum in domestic demand”, noting that new export orders had only modestly increased.