By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures edged higher on Thursday, as the dollar eased, a day after the commodity fell sharply due to a stronger dollar and a report on rising oil stockpiles.
Crude oil for April delivery CLJ2 +0.24% rose 18 cents to $105.61 a barrel, after finishing the prior session down $1.28, or 1.2%, to end the session at $105.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest settlement for a front-month contract in a week.
Data released on Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration showed that crude supplies rose 1.8 million barrels in the week ended March 9, while stockpiles of gasoline and other products fell sharply.
In the currency markets Thursday, the ICE dollar index DXY -0.19% slipped to 80.372, from 80.596 in late North American trading Wednesday. U.S. stock futures rose. A decline in the dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities such as oil more attractive for holders of other currencies.
Investors were also taking in a report from Reuters, citing unnamed sources, that U.S. President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the possibility of releasing emergency oil reserves at a meeting on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in the energy markets, April gasoline futures RBJ2 -0.19% slipped 1 cent to $3.34 a gallon. April heating oil HOJ2 +0.09% was flat at $3.26 a gallon.
April natural-gas futures NGJ12 -1.05% fell 3 cents, or 1.3%, to $2.26 per million British thermal units.
Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid.
