* U.S. gasoline demand up 3.8 pct on year
* Overall crude stocks up, Cushing inventories down
* Worries over Asian growth weigh on demand outlook
(Recasts, updates throughout)
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - U.S. crude prices rose sharply
on Thursday, supported by strong gasoline demand in the world's
top oil consumer.
Crude prices have fallen more than 3 percent this week on
persistent worries over global demand and a supply glut,
sparking some profit taking, traders said.
Overall U.S. crude stocks rose last week more than expected
but inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for the
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark, declined, data
from the Energy Information Administration showed. EIA/A
Gasoline consumption, a major driver in global oil demand
growth over the past year, rose over the past four weeks by 3.8
percent from a year earlier, offering further support.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 65 cents to $48.23 per
barrel by 1530 GMT. U.S. crude futures CLc1 were up $1.07 at
$45.22 a barrel.
"The (U.S) data was moderately bearish with bigger than
expected builds across the board for oil and refined products
stocks. Offsetting some of this bearishness was demand, which
remains strong year-over-year as consumers take advantage of low
gasoline and distillate prices," said Chris Jarvis, analyst at
Caprock Risk Management in Frederick, Maryland.
Japan's core machinery orders fell 3.6 percent in July, data
showed on Thursday, much worse than a 3.7 percent increase
expected by economists. ID:nL4N11F1RH
In Asia's biggest economy, China, the producer price index
fell 5.9 percent in August from the same period last year, its
42nd consecutive month of decline and the biggest drop since the
depths of the global financial crisis in late 2009.
ID:nL4N11E394
Car sales in China fell 3.0 percent in August from a year
earlier to 1.7 million vehicles, the fifth straight monthly drop
as the country's slowest economic expansion in 25 years wiped
out growth in the world's top auto market. ID:nB9N11D002
ANZ bank said global growth for 2016 and 2017 would hold
around 3.5 percent, revised down from the 4 percent it had
previously forecast.
"The stage is set for a recovery but as long as we keep
getting disappointing numbers out of China it will weigh and
delay a recovery," said Hamza Khan, commodities analyst at
Netherlands-based ING Financial Markets.
Oil prices have fallen over 50 percent since June 2014 as
soaring output clashed with slowing economies in Asia, the main
growth engine for commodities in recent years.