Oil prices fell more than 3 percent on Tuesday after official data showed China’s giant manufacturing sector, the engine powering the world’s biggest energy consumer, contracted at the fastest pace in three years. China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.7 in August from 50.0 in July, reinforcing concerns over the world’s second-largest economy. The figures helped spur a retreat in oil prices after three days of hefty gains. Investors took profits after Brent and U.S. crude both soared more than 8 percent on Monday, traders said. “It was primarily the China fear factor,” Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, told Reuters Global Oil Forum. Benchmark Brent crude dropped $2.13 to a low of $52.02 a barrel, and was trading around $52.15 by 0815 […]