Free MCX Tips: Crude oil futures plunged by more than 2.5% in the domestic market on Monday as investors and speculators exited positions in the energy commodity tracking a lower trend in the overseas market as the weakest pace of expansion in China’s economy since the global financial crisis in Q3 signaled gloomy demand prospects for the fuel.

The world’s second biggest economy expanded at 6.9 per cent in the September 2015 quarter, the weakest pace since the first quarter of 2009, and below the government’s 7 per cent growth forecast for the year.

China’s manufacturing sector grew at a tepid 6% rate in the first nine months of the year while fixed-asset investment rose 10.3 per cent, year on year, below the 10.8% estimated by analysts. Industrial output in China grew by 5.7 per cent, year on year in September 2015, below the 6 per cent predicted by analysts.

Investors cast aside robust US housing data which showed that home-builder sentiment in the US soared to the highest level in a decade in October, signaling a pickup in the world’s biggest economy, auguring well for the fuel’s demand outlook. The gauge measuring US home-builder sentiment climbed to 64 in October 2015 from 61 in September 2015.

Oil futures may rebound today as upbeat US demand outlook bolsters sentiment.

At the MCX, Crude oil futures, for the October 2015 agreement, ended at Rs 2,974 per barrel, down by 2.65 per cent, after opening at Rs 3,056, against the previous close price of Rs 3,055. It touched an intraday low of Rs 2,980.