SINGAPORE: Brent crude steadied around $78.40 a barrel on Wednesday ahead of talks by producer group OPEC, but prices fell earlier in the session as Asia's top four economies showed signs of weakness.
The European benchmark was at $78.43 a barrel at 0717 GMT, off a low of $78 hit earlier in the day, while US crude was at $74.13 a barrel, up from a low of $73.64.
Traders said talks of a potential output cut ahead of the meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were helping prices, but added that Asia's rising economic woes had pressured the market in early trading.
"The US economy is doing great but most everyone else is struggling, creating more downside than upside risks to growth," US-based PIRA Energy Group said in a weekly report. "Global oil balances continue to confirm a rather large surplus in 2014. OPEC will find it hard to remedy the situation."
India's economic growth probably slowed to around 5 percent in the three months to September, slipping from 5.7 percent in the previous quarter.
In South Korea, a top state-run research institute warned the Bank of Korea against underestimating the danger of Asia's fourth-largest economy falling into deflation
. Asia's top economy China cut interest rates last week, indicating slowing growth, while Japan's economy slipped into recession in the third quarter.
This stands in contrast to the United States, where the government upgraded its reading on third quarter gross domestic product to 3.9 percent on Tuesday from 3.5 percent reported last month.
WHAT WILL OPEC DO?
OPEC oil ministers meet on Thursday in Vienna, with some of its 12 member states wanting to cut at least 1 million barrels per day of production to support prices that have plunged 30 percent since June.
Predictions for the OPEC summit range from a large output cut to none at all, and heavyweight Saudi Arabia has kept the market guessing as to what it will do.
"Together with a strengthening US dollar and lower economic growth forecasts, we expect this will compel OPEC into action. The uncertainty is whether OPEC can coordinate agreement in time or whether it will only sanction production cuts early in the new year," Deutsche Bank said in a report on the summit.
If OPEC does not agree to a significant cut, some analysts believe oil prices could slide to $60 per barrel.
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