American Petroleum Institute is due to report inventory data at 4:30 p.m. Eastern By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures rose above $75 a barrel on Tuesday, as positive U.S. manufacturing data and expectations of a decline in U.S. crude supplies boosted sentiment. Crude oil for March delivery gained 85 cents, or 1.1%, to $75.28 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The contract extended its gains from Monday, when data showed that conditions in the U.S. manufacturing sector improved much more than expected last month. The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) factory index jumped to 58.4% in January from 54.9% in December. "Yesterday's ISM reading boosted economic recovery hopes and underpinned expectations that demand for commodities and raw materials will improve this year," said analysts at Action Economics. On Tuesday, pending home sales for December and car sales for January are scheduled for release. Energy traders are also awaiting inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute, which is due at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. The Energy Information Administration will release its more closely watched supply data on Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by Platts expect a 1-million-barrel decline in U.S. commercial crude oil stocks for the week ended Jan. 29. They also expect an increase of 1.5 million barrels in gasoline stocks. "This time of the year gasoline stock builds are seasonal as refiners try to build a cushion well ahead of driving season, but are also as a result of a fall-off in demand," said Linda Rafield, senior oil analyst at Platts, in a statement. Analysts project a decline of 1.2 million barrels in middle distillate inventories. Refinery utilization is expected to rise 0.25 percentage point to 78.75%.

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