Crude-oil prices edged lower in Asia trade Thursday as traders take profits after the overnight surge on Wall Street driven by a smaller-than-expected crude stockpile growth in the U.S. However, fear of a possible interest-rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve at the December meeting is deterring big bets, analysts said. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $45.73 a barrel at 4:03 a.m. GMT, down $0.21 in the Globex electronic session. December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.23 to $48.82 a barrel. “As much as market pressures could influence the Fed to hike rates, we would think this could happen as long as the U.S. economy does not deteriorate any further,” said Daniel Ang, a Phillip Futures energy analyst, adding the U.S. third-quarter growth data, scheduled for release later today, will be indicative of the Fed’s […]