WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices traded mixed on Tuesday, after having scored big gains in the previous session on expectations of further economic stimulus in China and amid heightened geopolitical tensions in Syria.
Benchmark Brent crude futures were marginally higher at $72.19 in European trade while WTI crude futures dipped 0.2 percent to $68.25.
China's stimulus optimism waned after China's exports and imports both missed expectations in November, fueling worries about the health of the world's second-largest economy.
China's exports growth slowed in November and imports declined the most in 14 months, underscoring the need for more stimulus measures to boost domestic demand.
Traders also await cues from the U.S. consumer and producer inflation readings due this week, the ECB rate decision and the release of OPEC's monthly report.
On the geopolitical front, Israel has deployed troops across the Syrian border for the first time since the official end of the Yom Kippur War in 1974 and conducted airstrikes inside Syria.
Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday that the Israel Defense Forces are seeking to gain 'complete control over the buffer zone' and seize weapons and 'terrorist infrastructure,' so they can't be used to target Israel.
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