NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Crude prices moved slightly up on Tuesday as investors saw a possible draw in the U.S. fuel inventories.

    Light, sweet crude for December delivery gained 24 cents to settle at 79.14 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude initially slipped as much as 1 percent as the dollar rebounded against a basket of major currencies, with the Dollar Index increased 0.8 percent to 75.457.

    Oil later got a lift as survey showed most analysts expected a drop in gasoline and distillate inventories, even though crude stocks would probably rose for the week ending November 13. Investors now were waiting for the government inventory data due to be released on Wednesday, hoping to get more clues about the demand side.

    In London, Brent Crude for January delivery rose 38 cents to 79.14 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.