•Global crude futures were a touch weaker Tuesday, after two consecutive days of falls amid concern over the US economy and a recovering US dollar. A stronger US dollar makes imports of commodities more expensive.

•Market participants are now shifting their attention to the release of potentially bearish weekly US petroleum stocks data, due to be released Wednesday.

•Turkey reassured Iraq on Tuesday that it wants a diplomatic solution to the problem of Kurdish rebel bases but rejected a conditional ceasefire offer made by the guerrillas.

•Tokyo Electric Power Company expects its oil procurement to hit 1 million kiloliters (6.29 million barrels) in November, an increase of 100,000-200,000 kiloliters from its earlier estimate, after an eight-day unplanned maintenance at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, a company source told Platts Tuesday.

Updated: October 23, 2007