By Ben Lefebvre Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil prices dipped in Asia Thursday as the market remained jittery following a slew of news pointing to oil supplies being greater than demand may warrant. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $105.25 a barrel at 0538 GMT, down 16 cents in the Globex electronic session. May Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell 8 cents, to $124.08 a barrel. The market will look to China's purchasing managers' index for clues to the state of the country's manufacturing activity, said Natalie Robertson, commodity strategist at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. The market expects the PMI to drop to 50.6 in March from 51 in February, which would signal a slowdown in the world's second largest economy. "Any further negative news could take some of the wind out of oil markets," Robertson said. Some traders may be more optimistic about the global economy. Oil prices have proven resilient despite a host of bearish news, including the possibility of the U.S., U.K. and France releasing crude from their strategic reserves and recent U.S. data showing crude stockpiles much higher than analysts' forecasts. "There may have been some profit-taking, but it was no stampede for the exits," said Citi Futures energy analyst Tim Evans. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for April--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 43 points to $3.3998 a gallon, while April heating oil traded at $3.2075, 4 points lower. ICE gasoil for April changed hands at $1,023.25 a metric ton, down 75 cents from Wednesday's settlement. -By Ben Lefebvre, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2813; ben.lefebvre@dowjones.com

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