Oil prices have risen slightly due to encouraging economic prospects in Asian and European countries that negated the increasing global oversupply worries and higher US rig count.

Brent futures climbed 3 cents to reach at $53.56 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 10 cents to trade at $50.70 per barrel, reported Reuters.

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The oil prices received support after manufacturing data indicated a strong growth of the factories located in Asia at the end of March.

Earlier, both oil benchmarks suffered losses due to rising global inventory despite output cuts by OPEC and non-OPEC nations.

Last week, oil prices showed signs of recovery amid expectations that OPEC may extend its output-cut deal beyond June this year.

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"Now the market may have priced all those factors in and investors are waiting for additional indicators to give oil prices direction."

However, prices fell on Friday after Baker Hughes reported an increase in US rig count by ten to reach at 662 last week.

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CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner was quoted by the news agency as saying: "We've had a pretty significant rally in the past week, driven by Libya's production not doing as well due to disruptions, good utilisation rates by US refiners and talk of OPEC and non-OPEC members extending production cuts for another six months.

“Now the market may have priced all those factors in and investors are waiting for additional indicators to give oil prices direction."

US and Europe are scheduled to release their purchasing managers' index (PMI) data that can trigger another price fluctuation.

PMI data from China indicated that the country’s manufacturing sector expanded though at a softer pace.