By Ga-Woon Philip Vahn Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures were mixed in Asia Tuesday, as traders consolidated Monday's strong gains as the euro's mild retreat against the U.S. dollar provided an excuse to take profit in the European oil benchmark. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $91.67 a barrel at 0606 GMT, up $0.40 in the Globex electronic session after the contract jumped 4.4% Monday in New York. December Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.15 to $111.30 a barrel after ending the New York session up 1.7%. Market participants said buyers could afford to pause, with the euro and most regional stock markets pulling back after their recent rallies. The single currency was at $1.3901, from $1.3929 late Monday in New York. Still, traders said it's becoming clear that the bulls are gaining the upper hand in the crude market, as hopes that the European Union will unveil a euro-zone rescue package remain supportive of risk-sensitive assets. "Although the euro-zone debt issue remains quite murky, the market appears to be pricing in a viable resolution to this crisis," Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note. Meanwhile, the spread between Nymex and North Sea Brent crudes has narrowed significantly in the past couple months, possibly indicating that some investors are trying to ensure that they don't overcommit themselves before concrete euro-zone bailout measures are announced. The spread between front-month contracts in New York and London was wider than $25 in late August compared with narrower than $20 currently. Tight U.S. supply conditions and Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley's latest mention of another dose of quantitative easing may have given the New York oil contract an additional boost even as improving Libyan supply prospects and a bit of caution ahead of European leaders' meeting to resolve the debt problem weighed on the European oil benchmark, said a trader at Hyundai Oilbank in Seoul. However, the spread is unlikely to narrow much further, as Brent can be expected to outperform on any positive headlines from Europe in the coming days, the Hyundai Oilbank trader added. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for November--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 109 points to $2.6779 a gallon, while November heating oil traded at $3.0498, 48 points lower. ICE gasoil for November changed hands at $956.25 a metric ton, up $3.75 from Monday's settlement. -By Ga-Woon Philip Vahn, Dow Jones Newswires; +65-64154149; philip.vahn@dowjones.com

Source