Oil prices bounced back slightly on Tuesday as Asian traders reacted to a slide the day before that pulled prices down by $3.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 30 cents to $61.81 in midmorning Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Trading was light as the market looked for fresh signals.

Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist with Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo predicted prices would not fluctuate much Tuesday, staying in the $61-$63 range as traders eyed Iran's nuclear standoff with the West and awaited the weekly U.S. inventory report, due Wednesday.

"The market is bearish, The trend is actually heading to the downside" said Emori.

Crude oil prices tumbled $2.77 on Monday to settle at $61.51 a barrel following news of an oversupply at a key North American delivery point in Oklahoma.

Iran announced Monday that it has begun enriching uranium on an industrial scale.

The claim comes days after Iran defused another crises with the West by releasing 15 British sailors and marines it had held for 13 days for allegedly entering its waters.

Oil prices rose more than $5 a barrel hitting six-month highs after that March 23 detention.

Gasoline demand

Emori said the factors to watch this week were gasoline demand and supply in the United States.

Last week's annual report by the US Energy Information Administration showed a larger-than-expected increase in gasoline supplies but lower refinery output.

Many refineries have suffered unplanned outages in recent weeks.

In other Nymex trading on Tuesday, natural gas rose a penny to $7.556 per 1,000 cubic feet and heating oil futures gained 0.93 cent to $1.8250 a gallon.