TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Crude oil futures traded sideways in Asia Thursday, staying mostly in negative territory in sluggish trade ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at $83.81 a barrel at 0638 GMT, down 5 cents in the Globex electronic session. January Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell 15 cents to $85.69 a barrel. Crude spiked just ahead of Asian electronic trading, extending a 3.2% rise made in floor trade, but Asian traders took profits early, erasing the late-U.S. gains. "Last night's rise apparently came mostly from short covering ahead of Thanksgiving today," said Rikio Ishikura, trader with Newedge Japan. "And the rise was a little too much. That's why prices are down in Asia." Volume remained thin all day as market participants stayed on the sidelines, with floor trade to be suspended Thursday in New York. "In times like this, prices either hardly move or are very volatile," therefore traders probably think it's wise to stay out, said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, analyst with Nihon Unicom. The only major factor that could provide a lead to weekend traders would be any move by China to further tighten its monetary policy, which could lead to a fall in crude oil demand, he added. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for December--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 61 points to $2.2075 a gallon, while December heating oil traded at $2.3194, 61 points lower. ICE gasoil for December changed hands at $721.75 a metric ton, up $2.50 from Wednesday's settlement. By Mari Iwata, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2798; mari.iwata@dowjones.com

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