Gasoline fluctuated as a stronger dollar reduced the investment appeal of commodities and an industry-funded report said U.S. inventories fell last week. Gasoline swung between gains and losses as the dollar rose 0.5 percent against the euro as of 9:37 a.m. in New York. Supplies of the motor fuel fell 7.88 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said yesterday. The Energy Department is scheduled to report inventories at 10:30 a.m. today in Washington. “There’s a very strong dollar today,” said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “If we get a confirmation of the big draw in gasoline, which we think will be 3.2 million, I would expect gasoline to rally.” Gasoline for April delivery rose 0.41 cent to $3.0086 a gallon at 9:37 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. U.S. supplies of gasoline probably fell 2 million barrels last week, according to the median estimate of 16 analysts in a survey by Bloomberg news. U.S. stockpiles shrank 4.17 million barrels to 225 million in the week ended March 11, the lowest level in nine weeks, according to government data. Heating oil for April delivery dropped 0.87 cent, or 0.3 percent, to $3.0675 a gallon. Inventories of distillates, including heating oil and diesel probably declined 1.5 million barrels, according to the survey. Regular gasoline at the pump, averaged nationwide, rose 0.1 cent to $3.548 a gallon yesterday, AAA said on its website. To contact the reporter on this story: Barbara J Powell in Dallas at bpowell4@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net

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