Oil prices rose on Wednesday, recovering from the losing streak of the past six trading sessions, supported from an expected fall in crude oil inventories in the United States, the world's top energy consumer.

Any gains in oil prices, however, may be capped by concerns in broader markets that global economic growth could be faltering.

By 1150 GMT, U.S. crude rose 28 cents to $72.26 a barrel, having fallen to $71.44 earlier. It closed at $71.98 on Monday, the lowest since early June.

ICE Brent crude futures were 42 cents up at $71.87.

Andy Sommer, energy market analyst with EGL in Switzerland, said prices were supported ahead of the release of weekly U.S. oil data from industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) at 2030 GMT on Wednesday and federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday.

API and EIA are expected to show relatively big declines in inventories, Sommer said.

He added that some investors were trying to take advantage of the fall in prices over the past week.

Prices are a bit undervalued now so it may be partly a reason for the bounce now.

U.S. oil data for the week to July 2 is likely to show a 2.6 million barrels drop in crude stocks, a fall for the second consecutive week, due to lower imports in the United States, a Reuters poll of analysts showed.

Gasoline inventories were forecast down 300,000 barrels.

The release has been delayed by one day due to the U.S. Independence Day holiday on Monday.

In the global market, sentiment remained pressured by the U.S. Institute for Supply Management's reading on service sector activity on Tuesday, which showed growth in June, but at its slowest pace since February, heightening concerns about sluggish economic recovery.

Along with continued worries about euro zone sovereign debt, the slowing pace of recovery, particularly in the United States, has deterred investment in riskier assets.

World stocks as measured by MSCI <.MIWD00000PUS> dipped. In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> was also trading lower.

The euro slipped off a seven-week high with eyes on a European committee of bank supervisors, which is to outline on the methodology of a stress test on about 100 banks in the euro zone and other countries.

Euro zone economic growth in the first three months of 2010 was confirmed on Wednesday at 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter and 0.6 percent on the year, European Union statistics office Eurostat said, but any stronger expansion in the second quarter could be short-lived.

For a graphic of the correlation between oil and stock markets:

(Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore; editing by Keiron Henderson and Alison Birrane)

Energy