OIL PRICES FURTHER DOWN

Oil prices fell in Asia today following a surprise increase in US commercial crude-oil stockpiles and a slew of soft economic data from leading energy consumers. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September delivery eased 28 cents to USD 97.31 while Brent crude for September shed 50 cents to USD 103.78 in mid-morning trade. A build in US inventories for the first time in seven weeks weighed on prices, analysts said. US crude-oil inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels, to 367.0 million, in the week ending August 8, the Department of Energy said. Crude-oil supplies had contracted by roughly 22 million barrels over the prior six weeks. The inventories increase surprised analysts, who expected a decline of 1.7 million barrels, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires. Benchmark prices also weakened due to "soft economic data from Europe and China", said Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Asia-Pacific oil and gas practice at consultancy firm EY. A string of disappointing Chinese data released Wednesday raised concerns about growth in the world's second largest economy and top energy consumer. The Asian giant's bank lending plunged to 385.2 billion yuan (USD 62.5 billion) in July, a dramatic decline from June's 1.08 trillion yuan as the weakening property sector hit demand for loans. Also, data for industrial output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment were in line with expectations but slightly slower from the previous month's data. In Germany, investment sentiment fell to its lowest level in nearly two years in August amid concerns about the economic fallout from current global crises, a survey found on Tuesday. The widely watched investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute fell by 18.5 points to 8.6 points in August, its lowest level since December 2012. Analysts had expected only a minor fall. Germany, Europe's largest economy, is the world's eighth largest energy consumer, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).