UPDATE 6-Oil steady, retraces losses on talk of Brexit deal, hints of OPEC supply restraint

* Britain, EU make headway on possible Brexit deal
* OPEC, allies to seek market stability beyond 2020
* Weak China data underline global economy fears
* Coming Up: U.S. crude inventory data Wed, Thurs

(Adds latest prices, quotes)
By Scott DiSavino
NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Oil prices were narrowly mixed
on Tuesday, retracing early losses on optimism about a potential
Brexit deal and signals from OPEC that further supply curbs are
possible, but prices remained under pressure from U.S.-China
trade worries and concern about swelling U.S. crude inventries.
Global benchmark Brent LCOc1 futures were up 2 cents to
$59.37 a barrel by 12:40 p.m. EDT (1640 GMT), while U.S. West
Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was down 10 cents, or
0.2%, to $53.49.
Earlier, both Brent and WTI were down by more than $1 a
barrel after overnight reports that China's factory gate prices
in September declined at the fastest pace in more than three
years Also, customs data on Monday showed Chinese
imports contracted for a fifth straight month.
"The initial selloff in oil was on concerns about global
growth. There were reports the Chinese government wanted the
United States to lift tariffs before China would start
agricultural purchases," said Phil Flynn, senior energy analyst
at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
"But later in the session, prices started to recover after
we heard from China that they found a way to work with the
United States," Flynn said.
A spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry said Chinese
firms have already purchased 700,000 tonnes of pork and 700,000
tonnes of sorghum from the United States this year. On Friday, Trump said China had agreed to purchase $40 to
$50 billion worth of American agricultural goods in a first
phase of an agreement to end the trade war. Providing more support for the oil and equities markets on
Tuesday were reports Britain and the European Union made headway
in eleventh-hour talks to work out a Brexit deal in time for a
leaders' summit this week. Analysts said any deal that avoids a "hard" or no deal
Brexit should boost economic growth.
OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied
producers "will do whatever (is) in its power" to sustain oil
market stability beyond 2020. OPEC, Russia and other producers have cut oil output by 1.2
million barrels per day to support the market. Yet an expected
rise in U.S. crude inventories this week could keep prices under
pressure. EIA/S
"Our expected 3.5 (million barrel) crude build will likely
receive a bearish reception in maintaining this week's downward
momentum in the process of pushing WTI toward our expected
support zone of $50-51.50 per barrel," Jim Ritterbusch,
president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois,
said in a report.
U.S. oil inventory reports are due out from industry group
the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday and the U.S.
Energy Information Administration on Thursday.