* Brent and U.S. crude up about 2 pct after near 3 pct drop
Monday
* Crude draw estimates support market ahead of API, EIA
numbers
* Oil seen volatile ahead of Wednesday data and
month/quarter end
(Adds latest market moves)
By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose about 2
percent on Tuesday as expectations that U.S. crude inventories
dropped in the latest week boosted prices after the previous
day's slide.
Oil got an early boost as U.S. equity markets rose on strong
consumer confidence data in the world's No. 1 economy. As Wall
Street retraced much of those gains, oil prices remained up.
.N
Industry group American Petroleum Institute will issue a
weekly report on U.S. inventories after Tuesday's market
settlement at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT).
A preliminary Reuters poll on Monday said U.S. crude
stockpiles likely fell 500,000 barrels last week, a third
straight week of drawdowns.
Genscape, a market intelligence firm, has also alluded to
lower stockpiles, suggesting a draw of about 1 million barrels
last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S. crude
inventories.
On Wednesday, the U.S. government's Energy Information
Administration (EIA) will issue official weekly inventory data.
"Until a slew of fundamental guidance is presented tomorrow
from the EIA, oil appears poised to track US equities for
another session," said Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch &
Associates, an oil market advisory in North Wabash, Chicago.
Oil prices could be more volatile than usual until
Wednesday, the close of September and third-quarter trading.
Brent LCOc1 , the global oil benchmark, was up $1, or 2.1
percent, at $48.34 a barrel by 12:20 p.m. EDT (1620 GMT).
U.S. crude CLc1 was up 90 cents, or 2 percent, at $45.33.
Brent and U.S. crude prices fell about 3 percent on Monday.
Some traders said the rebound was supported by the International
Energy Agency (IEA)'s denial that its chief, Fatih Birol, had
told an Austrian newspaper he expected crude to stay at around
$45 "for a long time". The IEA is a global energy watchdog.
ID:nL5N11Z2XO
Oil has had more than a year of dramatic falls and
occasional rallies, with Brent swinging from $115 in June 2014
to under $42 in August 2015.
Prices of other raw materials, including copper, have been
battered too, squeezing income for commodity producers and
triggering a sector-wide crisis. Shares in commodity merchants
such as Glencore GLEN.L and Noble NOBG.SI have been hit
hard. ID:nL5N11Z04
Oil prices appeared to stabilize over the past four weeks,
Rhidoy Rashid of London-based consultancy Energy Aspects told
the Reuters Global Oil Forum.
"They should find a floor around current levels of $45-$55
in Q4 2015" if they remained steady over the autumn refinery
maintenance period, Rashid said.