Oil prices edged up in tepid Asian trade today after recent falls on concerns about the US economic recovery, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, rose 13 cents to $72.11 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for August delivery gained 19 cents to $71.64.
Crude markets climbed in the wake of seven straight sessions of losses as wary traders bought up crude in a listless market, analysts said.
"It's going up as the market is coming out from recent lows," said Clarence Chu, an oil trader with Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore.
Describing oil price movements over the past few weeks as a "roller-coaster ride," he said oil markets were slowly clawing back lost ground on an absence of economic indicators.
Crude prices had dropped Tuesday on a steeper-than-expected fall in the US Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index, but Chu said its impact had run its course.
The index declined to 53.8 points last month from 55.4 in May. Most economists had expected the June figure to be at 55.0.