NEW YORK, July 26 (UPI) -- Crude oil stayed in a tight price range Tuesday, held down by an intermittent sense that global Chinese demand for hydrocarbons may have peaked.
A barrel of high quality crude for September delivery closed on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $59.20 per barrel.
Heating oil fell slightly to $1.6937 per gallon, and unleaded gasoline settled down to $1.6970 per gallon.
"This is a market essentially without bearish news at this point," said John Kingston, global director of oil at Platts, an energy information unit of McGraw-Hill Cos.
"Every time it looks like Chinese demand might be softening, there is evidence pointing the other way. Every time there's a significant move down, a new rush of speculative money seems to appear to act as a prop. Signs pointing to a slight softening of U.S. demand may be the one bearish factor in the market, but whether that becomes a trend is still indeterminate."
Natural gas rose slightly to $7.245 per million Btu, a standard volumetric measure of the commodity.
