WTI retreats from five-day highs, clings to modest gains near $37.50

• Crude oil prices gained traction on upbeat Chinese data.
• IEA expects oil demand recovery to decelerate in the remainder of 2020.
• The API will release its Weekly Crude Oil Stock data.

Crude oil prices turned north during the Asian session on Tuesday and the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) touched its highest level in five days at $38. However, the WTI struggled to preserve its bullish momentum and erased a portion of its daily gains. As of writing, the WTI was still up nearly 1% on the day at $37.55.

Chinese data boost sentiment on Tuesday

Earlier in the day, the data from China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, showed that Industrial Production and Retail Sales in August expanded at a stronger pace than expected and revived hopes for a steady recovery.

However, crude oil continues to have a hard time staging a decisive rally as investors remain concerned about the energy demand outlook.

On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its oil market report said that it expects the oil demand recovery to "decelerate markedly." On Monday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said that it revised the expectation for the decline in oil demand to 9.46 million barrels per day (bpd) from 9.06 million (BPD) in the previous report.

Later in the day, the American Petroleum Institute (API) will release its Weekly Crude Oil Stock data.

Technical levels to watch for