Asia witnessed on Wednesday a rise in oil prices above $76 a barrel as investors doubted if signs of a sluggish U. S. economy and weak crude demand justify a further sell-off this week.

At late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a hike by 47 cents was seen in benchmark crude for January delivery, which earlier plunged as low as $75.78.

Crude, after touching its high this year of $82 a barrel last month, has plunged nearly 7%.

As of Tuesday, the Commerce Department revised down Q3 gross domestic product growth to .8 percent from 3.5 percent. This was a discouraging result as economies coming out from recessions usually see larger expansions.

Furthermore, since the oil supplies keep expanding, stagnation has also come in U. S. crude demand.

As per the declaration made by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday, crude inventories hiked more than forecasted last week.

The inventory report by the Energy Information Administration will be announced later Wednesday.