Wednesday, September 27 2006 16:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Singapore: "Oil prices made a technical rebound in Asian trade today after falls prompted by the OPEC cartel's signal that there were no plans to cut production,"dealers said.

At 10:20 am (local time) New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, was up 31 cents at 61.32 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude climbed 12 cents to 60.24 dollars.

"This slight increase in prices is a technical rebound and I expect that prices will decline again," said Tetsu Emori, the chief commodities strategist for Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo.

"I think that the price will hang around the 60-dollar mark and as long as the heating oil and natural gas inventories are good, we won't have a problem," he said.

Both the New York and London contracts had fallen below 60 dollars in intra-day trade on Monday to their lowest levels since March 8, sparking talk that OPEC may cut output before December to put a floor under prices.

But an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countriesspokesman yesterday dampened that speculation.

"There is really no meeting planned as of now. The (OPEC) president is always in consultations with the other ministers and they're discussing the matter but there is no emergency meeting scheduled," the spokesman said.