By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices were modestly higher in choppy electronic trading Tuesday, struggling to overcome a disappointing U.S. employment report that sent the commodity to a seven-week low closing low the previous day.
Aided by a weakened U.S. dollar, light, sweet crude-oil futures CLK2 -0.31% for delivery in May were up 3 cents, or 0.03%, at $102.49 a barrel on Globex. The contract fell 85 cents for its lowest settlement since mid-February in the regular New York Mercantile Exchange session on Monday.
The contract had dropped as low as $102.22 and risen as high as $102.82 earlier in the day.
The small gains posted were supported by a weaker U.S. dollar DXY -0.10% , which fell against most major currencies. Read Currencies report.
Analysts pointed to high U.S. crude inventories.
“At some state, the market may also want to focus more on the buildup in U.S. commercial crude-oil stocks, with the further increase expected for the week ended April 6 likely to push the total to the highest level for this point in the year since 1990,” Citi Futures Perspective analyst Tim Evans wrote in a note to clients.
U.S. equity index futures also advanced, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -1.00% futures climbing 28 points, or 0.2%, to 12,878, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index SPX -1.14% futures added 3.3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,378.20.
In Asia, meanwhile, Hong Kong and Australian stocks dropped as trading resumed in both markets after a four-day, holiday-extended weekend. Read Asia Markets.
Chinese stocks declined although the country unexpectedly swung back to a trade surplus in March from February’s deficit. Read more about China’s trade balance in March.
Japanese stocks pared early gains after the Bank of Japan left its policy rates unchanged, and maintained the size of its asset purchase program, belying some expectations that the central bank would further expand its monetary stimulus. Read more about the BOJ decision.
Among other energy products, May natural-gas futures NGK12 +0.05% rose 0.6% to $2.12 per million British thermal units, while heating-oil for delivery the same month HOK2 -0.30% slipped 0.1% to $3.14 per gallon.
May gasoline futures RBK2 -0.19% were little changed at $3.30 per gallon.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
