Oil Futures Rebound In Electronic Trading

Oil futures rebounded in electronic trading Tuesday, with a weaker dollar lending support, as traders looked ahead to weekly U.S. supply data.

Crude for November delivery  added 39 cents, or 0.4%, to $92.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asia trading hours.

The gains pared losses from Monday’s session, when European debt anxiety resurfaced and helped push oil to a seven-week low.

A clash between European leaders over efforts to stem the region’s debt crisis, German data casting further doubt on the global economy and a stronger dollar all weighed on commodities.

A turnaround for the greenback was providing support for commodities in Asia trading. The ICE dollar index , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major rivals, slipped to 79.451, from 79.552 in North American trade late Monday.

The modest gains for crude also came ahead of weekly U.S. supply data. Later Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute was due to release its inventory report, followed by the more closely watched U.S. Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday.

Analysts polled by Platts expect a 1.5-million-barrel increase in U.S. commercial crude for the week ended Sept. 21.

Last week, a larger-than-expected increase in supplies prompted a 3.5% drop in oil futures.

Elsewhere in the energy complex, October gasoline  traded up 0.1% at $2.92 a gallon, October heating oil  gained 0.1% to $3.10 a gallon. The contracts were due to expire at the end of floor trading on Friday.

October natural gas  added 2 cents, or 0.8%, to $2.86 per million British thermal units. The contract was set to expire at the end of floor trading Wednesday.

Marketwatch