Crude-oil futures were higher in Asian trading hours Friday after two sets of data showed an expansion in manufacturing activity in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $96.44 a barrel at 0543 GMT, up $0.06 in the Globex electronic session. December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.37 to $109.21 a barrel. China’s slowing manufacturing landscape has weighed on oil demand and any uptick in manufacturing activity supports oil prices, particularly Brent. Both the official purchasing managers’ index, an indicator for the performance of large and state-owned companies, and the private HSBC PMI, an indicator for small and medium enterprises, showed an expansion, although some analysts remained skeptical. The PMI data suggests the recovery momentum might be slightly stronger than what markets had expected and the reading should be positive for […]