LONDON--Crude futures were mixed in trading Tuesday, with Brent trading above $118 a barrel and Nymex trading flat as investors looked ahead to the OPEC report, due later, and a weekly survey on U.S. oil inventories.
At 1057 GMT, the March Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was at $118.43 a barrel, up 30 cents, or 0.3%. The Nymex light, sweet crude for March delivery was at $97.02 a barrel, down 1 cent.
Some analysts said Brent crude's inability to breach last week's high was a sign that its rally was losing steam.
"The upswing in the price of Brent is faltering," said Commerzbank in a note Tuesday. "Given the considerable optimism already displayed by speculative financial investors, there is increasingly little scope for Brent to rise any further."
The IntercontinentalExchange Inc.'s (ICE) weekly Commitment of Traders report published Monday showed speculative net long positions in Brent rose by 192,195 contracts in the week to Feb. 5, putting net longs at their highest level since records began in June 2011.
"We expect a pause here, with consolidation after recent gains, in thin trading," Andrey Kryuchenkov, vice president of commodities research at VTB Capital, said in a note Tuesday. "We still believe that a sustained retreat is not warranted until we break below the current uptrend in London."
Market participants in Asia are off for Lunar New Year celebrations. Market participants are awaiting the American Petroleum Institute's release of its weekly report. The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its own figures Wednesday. The market is also awaiting the release of a report from OPEC, which is likely to maintain its forecast of an 800,000 barrel-a-day increase in global oil demand this year, analysts said.
At 1059 GMT, the ICE's gasoil contract for February delivery was down $6.25, or 0.6%, at $1,020.00 per metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for March delivery was up 123 points, or 0.4%, at $3.0335 per gallon.
-Write to Jenny Gross at jenny.gross@dowjones.com; Twitter: @jgginlondon
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