Oil rises above $67 amid mixed economic signals

       Oil prices rose above $67 a barrel yesterday in Asia as investors looked for clues on the strength of the global economic recovery.
       Benchmark crude for September delivery was up 64 cents to $67.39 a barrel by late afternoon in Singapore in electronic tr ading on the New York Me rcantile Exchange. On Monday, the contract fell 76 cents to settle at $66.75.
       Crude prices have reversed direction after dropping from above $71 a barrel Fr iday on investor concerns that r ecovery from recession may be slow because of weak US consumer demand.
       Meanwhile, Germany, France and Japan reported in the last week they emerged from recession in the second quarter.
       The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2% Monday and major Asian indexes dropped in early trading yesterday.
       "I think the market was too optimistic about the recover y," said Clarence Chu, a trader with market maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. "It's not a strong rebound yet.'
       In other Nymex trading, gasoline for September deliver y slipped marginally at $1.95 a gallon and heating oil gained less than a penny to fetch $1.83. Natural gas for September delivery rose nearly 6 cents to $3.22 per 1,000 cubic feet.
       In London, Brent prices rose 65 cents to $71.19 a barre l on the ICE Futures exchange.
       Cr ude markets "sold off quite heavily in the past few days," said Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist with the National Australia Bank.
       "There is so much uncertainty and people are unsure of the outlook," he said.
       The oil market largely ignored a rebound Monday in a key US manufacturing survey which showed improvement in an index measuring gener al business conditions.
       The Federal Reser ve Bank of New Yo rk said the Empire State Manufacturing Survey's general business conditions index increased 13 points to 12.1, its highest level since November 2007.
       "Still, the pall of scepticism, along with a rally in the dollar, should combine to keep oil prices under pressure in the very short term," said Mike Fitzpatrick of MF Global.
       In July last year oil prices hit record peaks above $147 a barrel before collapsing due to weak energy demand arising from the effects of the world financial crisis, striking $32 a barrel in December.