NYMEX-Crude hovers around $97 before German ruling, Fed

SEOUL, Sept 12 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures hovered around $97 a barrel on Wednesday, with investors cautious ahead of a ruling by Germany's highest court on the euro zone's new bailout fund and at the start of a Federal Reserve meeting that may bring new stimulus measures.

FUNDAMENTALS

* U.S. October crude fell 17 cents to $97 a barrel as of 0017 GMT. It settled 63 cents higher at $97.17 a barrel on the previous session.

* Brent October crude dipped 4 cents at $115.36 a barrel. The contract, which expires on Thursday, settled 59 cents higher at $115.40 a barrel previously.

* Germany's Constitutional Court is expected to give its approval on Wednesday to the euro zone's new bailout fund while insisting on guarantees to safeguard German parliamentary sovereignty and limit Berlin's financial exposure.

* Fed policy makers conclude their two-day meeting on Thursday and recent weak U.S. economic data has some analysts and investors expecting the central bank to launch a third round of bond-buying.

* Such expectation on the stimulus package offset negative market impacts from Moody's warning on Tuesday that the United States may lose its top Aaa credit rating if next year's budget talks do not produce policies that gradually decrease the country's debt.

* The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said its production rose by about 260,000 barrels per day in August, despite a European Union embargo on Iran's exports, due to higher output from other members of the 12-member group, and left its demand growth forecast for 2013 unchanged.

* While OPEC highlighted rising output from the exporter group, the U.S. government ratcheted up price forecasts for oil on stronger demand. The Energy Information Administration on Tuesday raised its forecast for 2013 global oil demand growth by 130,000 bpd and lowered its forecast for non-OPEC oil production for both this year and next.

* U.S. crude inventories rose by 221,000 barrels in the week to Sept. 7, compared with analysts' expectations for a drawdown of 2.6 million barrels, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday.

* The government's weekly report from the EIA is due on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT). Ahead of weekly inventory reports, U.S. crude stocks were pegged to be down 2.6 million barrels, a Reuters survey of analysts showed.

* In a highly unusual rebuff to a close ally, the White House said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama would not meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a U.S. visit later this month, as tensions escalated over how to deal with Iran's nuclear program.

MARKETS NEWS

* The Dow industrials closed at the highest level in nearly five years on Tuesday in a lightly traded session before key decisions in Germany and the United States that could give markets a further boost.

* Japan's Nikkei share average edged higher in early Wednesday trade. The Nikkei edged up 0.2 percent to 8,822.67, while the broader Topix also rose 0.2 percent to 733.45.

DATA/EVENTS

* The following data is expected on Wednesday (GMT):

0530 India Industrial output July

0800 Italy Industrial output July

0800 German court decision on euro zone bailout fund and budget rules

0900 Euro zone Industrial production July

1230 U.S. Import/export prices August

1230 U.S. World agricultural supply-demand report

1430 U.S. EIA weekly petroleum status

Federal Open Market Committee begins two-day meeting on

monetary policy (Reporting by Meeyoung Cho; Editing by Ed Davies)