SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : World oil prices recovered in Asian trade Friday after dropping to three week lows overnight on weak economic data reports of two of the world’s top energy consumers, the US and China.

Light sweet crude for august delivery was seen trading at $73.14 a barrel at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $ 72.49 a barrel in London.

Weak manufacturing growth reported for China, Europe and US in June adds on concerns over low pace of global economic recovery.

Front-month WTI has declined every day this week before Friday, with the biggest drop on Thursday, when it slumped 3.5 percent

However prices gained momentum on stocks rebound, rising for the first time this week, but were still poised for their biggest weekly drop in percentage terms since early May.

Japan's Nikkei average edged up 0.4 percent on Friday after five straight days of falls as charts showed the benchmark deeply oversold, while the euro held near five-week highs against the dollar.

Concerns eased about a large storm in the Gulf of Mexico, home to about a third of US crude oil production and the site of the BP oil-spill disaster.

Alex, the first hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season, was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday as it moved inland in Mexico.

On Thursday, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, slumped closed $2.68 lower at $72.95 a barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for August sank $2.67 to settle at $72.34 a barrel.

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