Investing.com - Crude oil prices posted modest gain in Asian trade on Tuesday supported by continued Western tension with Russia, the world's top oil producer, over the Crimean region of the Ukraine.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in April traded at $101.18 a barrel, up 0.06%, after an overnight session low of $100.86 a barrel and a high of $102.73 a barrel.
Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange fell 92 cents, or 0.8%, to $108.08 a barrel on Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday apparently rejected a U.S. proposal to resolve the dispute over Ukraine that had been put forward by Secretary of State John Kerry over the past week, according to senior Russian and U.S. officials.
Putin's decision led Kerry to put off a Russian invitation to meet in Russia, as early as the beginning of this week in Sochi, to discuss the Ukraine crisis, according to these officials.
Weak Chinese trade data bruised oil prices on Monday.
Data released over the weekend revealed that Chinese exports fell 18.1% on-year in February, defying expectations for a 6.8% increase, following a rise of 10.6% in January.
A separate report showed that the annual rate of inflation in China slowed to 2.0% in February, from 2.5% in January.
The numbers confirmed market fears that emerging markets are cooling.
China is the world's second-largest consumer of crude oil.