By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Benchmark New York crude-oil futures rebounded in electronic trade Wednesday, ahead of a weekly U.S. inventory report due out later in the day.
Crude for March delivery CL2H +0.19% added 22 cents, or 0.2%, to $98.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours.
Oil notched a 0.3% fall in the North American session, pressured by stronger dollar, while disappointing U.S. economic reports weighed on investor sentiment. See report on Tuesday’s oil trading.
Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported a rise in crude-oil inventories rose for the week ended Jan. 20.
Supplies were higher by 2.01 million barrels, the trade group said.
The more closely watched Energy Information Administration report is scheduled for release later Wednesday.
Analysts polled by Platts expect crude-oil stocks to be up 3 million barrels, gasoline stocks up 1 million barrels, and distillates stocks down 1.2 million barrels.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
