Crude oil futures slightly gained on Wednesday after volatile session due to weak macroeconomic data, while on the positive side investors were hoping for decrease in oil inventories data. Investors were pessimistic after the decline in US manufacturing data which fell for the third consecutive month.

The euro zone’s Markit purchasing managers’ index also turned out lower as the PMI for August dropped to 46.3 as compared to 46.5 in the month of July. The PMI index for services sector declined to 47.2 in August as compared to 47.9 in July. PMI values below than 50 are always taken negatively as it represents contraction in manufacturing activity.

Crude oil futures contract for October delivery jumped 0.1 percent or $0.06 to settle at $95.3 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

According to analysts though investors were upbeat on hopes that ECB’s President Mario Draghi will opt for huge bond purchases to take with Europe’s debt crisis but on the other hand negative impact of the economic data also had its weight.

Among other commodities, gasoline futures contract for October delivery slightly fell by less than 1 cent or 0.1 percent to settle at $2.95 per gallon while heating oil futures contract for the same month plunged 0.9 percent or $0.03 to settle at $3.12 per gallon. Natural gas futures for October delivery fell $0.06 or 2.1 percent to $2.80 per million British thermal units. Natural gas remained up in last four sessions.