Crude oil futures were higher during mid-morning Asian trade Sept. 2 as the US’ manufacturing data for August was stronger-than-expected and a private inventory report released late Sept. 1 showed a large surprising decline in the US’ commercial crude inventories. At 10:28 am Singapore time (0228 GMT), ICE Brent November crude futures were up 38 cents/b (0.83%) from the Sept. 1 settle at $45.96/b, while the NYMEX October light sweet crude contract was up 36 cents/b (0.84%) at $43.12/b. The ICE Brent November crude futures had settled at $45.58/b at the end of the Sept. 1 trading session, while NYMEX October had settled at $42.76/b. “The forward-looking market had another sentiment reinforcement to work with in the form of the August US Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index surprise,” Pan Jingyi, market strategist […]