Oil prices rebounded in Asian trading hours after plunging more than 2.00 usd in the US overnight, although the rise was capped by a focus on possible slowing demand in China, dealers said. At 1.20 pm (0520 GMT) here, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, was at 58.55 usd a barrel, up 0.75 usd from its close of 57.80 usd in the US overnight. Oil prices had slumped 2.21 usd overnight as a hurricane veered away from US coastal production sites in the Gulf of Mexico, easing fears of a production shutdown. "When crude prices fall by more than two dollars there's bound to be a bounce," said Dave Ernsberger, a director at US energy information provider Platts. He said prices could have rebounded further if it had not been for growing evidence of lower-than-expected demand growth in China. "Storms come and go but Chinese demand is an ever-present factor in the market," said Ernsberger. "Everyone was so convinced that demand would grow more than 7 pct this year." Ernsberger said the expectation was now for growth of 5 pct or less.