Shafaq News / Oil rose on Tuesday as investors sought to seek bargain purchases of crude at cheap prices after it tumbled nearly 4 % in the previous session, but fears that the spread of Corona virus outside China will affect major economies and curb fuel demand curbed the gains.

Brent crude rose 19 %, or 0.3 %, to $ 56.49 a barrel by 0436 GMT, after falling 3.8 % in the previous session, to post the largest single-day loss since February 3.

US crude futures lost 17 %, or 0.3 %, to $ 51.60 a barrel, recovering from a drop of 3.7 % in the previous session.

Demand fears of oil and commodities prices tumbled on Monday, while European and US stocks suffered the biggest losses since mid-2016.

In the United States, crude inventories are expected to rise for the fifth consecutive week while refined product inventories are expected to have declined, as seen on Monday by a preliminary survey conducted by Reuters for the ending week February 21.

Ameen Al-Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco  told Reuters on Monday that the impact of Corona virus on oil demand is expected to be short-lived and consumption will rise in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, gold prices fell on Tuesday, with investors selling the yellow metal to take profits, after hitting a seven-year high in the previous session, while stocks recovered somewhat, but the high incidence of Coronavirus outside China curbed the gains.

Gold fell in the spot transactions 0.7 % to 1648.36 dollars an ounce (ounce) by the time 0605 GMT. On Monday, gold rose 2.8 % to $ 1,688.66, the highest level since January 2013.

Gold in US futures fell 1.6 % to $ 1650.60.

Asian stock markets have stabilized somewhat after a wave of early sell-offs receded.

The death toll from Corona virus in Italy rose to 7 on Monday, while several countries in the Middle East deal with the first cases.

Regarding other precious metals, palladium rose 0.3 % to $ 2,637.25 an ounce.

As for silver, it lost 0.7 % to $ 18.50 an ounce, after touching the highest level since early September in the previous session, and platinum settled at $ 963.52 an ounce.