By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Nymex crude-oil futures rebounded Wednesday, looking past the return of Greece’s debt worries and broad losses in Asian equity markets, as the dollar weakened a little and U.S. stock index futures edged higher.
Geopolitical issues concerning Iran were also in focus, with the international community appearing set to resume talks with the oil exporter on its nuclear program.
Light, sweet crude-oil futures for delivery in April CLJ2 +0.41% rose 27 cents, or 0.3%, to $104.97 a barrel in electronic trading during afternoon business hours in East Asia.
The front-month contract had lost $2.02 in a regular session on the New York Mercantile Exchange overnight to finish at its lowest settlement since Feb. 17.
The gains came as U.S. equity index futures recovered a little after a steep sell-off on Wall Street Tuesday, with Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -1.57% futures gaining 21 points to 12,765 in electronic trading.
The ICE dollar index DXY -0.10% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, also slipped a little, lifting commodities whose prices are benchmarked in the currency, including crude-oil. Read more on currencies.
Many Asian stock markets declined meanwhile, taking cues from steep losses for U.S. shares Tuesday, amid a return of fears of a disorderly Greek debt default. Read Asia Markets.
Among other energy products, April futures for gasoline RBJ2 +0.73% added 0.5% to $3.24 a gallon and the heating oil contract HOJ2 +0.18% for the same month added 0.2% to $3.19 a gallon.
April natural gas futures NGJ12 -1.19% fell 0.9% to $2.34 per million British thermal units.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
