New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, advanced 25 cents to $89.06 per barrel in the afternoon.

Brent North Sea crude for October delivery gained 15 cents to $115.00.

Data earlier Thursday showed China's official Purchasing Managers' Index jumped to 50.9 in August from 50.7 the previous month, which was the lowest in more than two years. Anything above 50 suggests expansion while a figure below indicates contraction.

Those figures came as Australia released figures showing retail sales rose a better than expected 0.5 percent in July from the previous month. The rise followed a 0.1 percent month on month fall in June.

Ker Chung Yang, commodity analyst for Phillip Futures in Singapore, said the data provided some support to oil prices.

The PMI data from China, the world's largest energy consumer, "suggests that factory activity is stabilising despite the tight monetary conditions at home and listless demand abroad," he added.

"This would be some of the good news that is boosting the oil prices."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011