MW:Crude slips on strong dollar, weak U.S. futures
By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures declined on Wednesday, giving back some of the previous day’s gains ahead key data due later in the day, as the dollar strengthened and U.S. index futures declined.
February futures for light, sweet crude oil CL2G -0.03% slipped 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $102.06 a barrel in electronic trading during late afternoon hours in East Asia, after rising 93 cents Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The drop came after data released by the American Petroleum Institute Tuesday showed crude-oil inventories rose 400,000 barrels in the week ended Jan. 6. Stock piles of gasoline and distillates also increased.
However, analysts polled by Platts expected the more closely watched Energy Information Administration’s report on inventories, due out later Wednesday, will show a decrease of 1 million barrels in oil stocks.
The U.S. dollar index DXY +0.13% , which measures the greenback’s performance against six other major currencies, climbed to 80.997 from 80.864 in North American trade late Tuesday.
U.S. index futures also pointed toward a likely weaker opening, with Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.56% futures slipping 18 points, or 0.2%, to 12,372.
Among other energy products, February gasoline futures RB2G +0.51% rose 0.3% to $2.78 a gallon, and heating-oil futures HG2G +0.21% for the same month rose 0.2% to $3.11 a gallon.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
