By Michael Kitchen
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Benchmark U.S. crude-oil futures extended their recent gains in electronic trading during East Asian hours Friday, helped by a rally on Asia stock markets. New York Mercantile Exchange crude oil for March delivery CLH2 +0.38% rose 23 cents, or 0.2%, to $102.54 a barrel, adding to a 0.5% advance during the regular floor session Thursday. March natural gas NGH12 +3.35% , however, gave back a portion of its 5.9% rally on Thursday to trade 1.1% lower at $2.54 per million British thermal units, a loss of three cents. Thursday's nat-gas gains had come on the back of a larger-than-expected weekly decline shown in a government report.
