U.S. crude oil inventories down last week: API

HOUSTON, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 4.210 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending Sept. 29.

Analysts had expected a drop of 0.092 million barrels for the week.

The API reported a hike of 1.586 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices inched up on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery increased 41 cents, or 0.46 percent, to settle at 89.23 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.