By Claudia Assis and V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures declined Friday after data showing a slowdown in China prompted concerns about oil demand.
Crude-oil futures for delivery in May CLK2 -0.69% were down 60 cents, or 0.6%, at $103.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added to losses as the session progressed.
Oil settled 94 cents higher Thursday, and the contract is set for a flat end of the week, down 0.2% so far.
Data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed the mainland economy expanded 8.1% from the year-ago first quarter — its slowest pace of growth in 11 quarters — due to weaker exports and construction activity.
The below-expected print compared with a 8.9% growth in the fourth quarter of 2011. Read full story on China GDP growth.
U.S. equities traded lower, and gold and other commodity futures also headed south. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.59% was recently off 94 points, or 0.7%, to 12,891.
The ICE dollar index DXY +0.66% rose to 79.851, from 79.269 in late North American trading on Thursday.
Investors took shelter in the U.S. dollar and bonds as they shunned investments perceived riskier, such as oil and other commodities.
Earlier Friday, investors pored over negative data from the U.S. Consumer sentiment declined in April, according to an index released by the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters.
Among other energy products, May gasoline RBK2 -0.57% retreated 3 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.33 a gallon. Heating oil HOK2 -0.05% for the same month’s delivery was off less than 1 cent, or 0.2%, to trade at $3.16 a gallon.
May natural gas NGK12 -0.15% gained less than a penny, or 0.2%, to $1.99 per million British thermal units. The contract had settled at a 10-year low in the previous session, the latest in a string of multiyear lows as it faces diminished demand and rising production.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
