By Claudia Assis and Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures traded lower Monday amid lingering speculation about strategic-supply releases and as global macroeconomic data was mixed.
Crude oil for May delivery CLK2 -0.41% fell 35 cents, or 0.4%, to $102.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading modestly higher during Asian trading hours.
The contract briefly added to losses after the release of the Institute for Supply Management’s March manufacturing survey.
Crude oil advanced 0.2% on Friday, bringing quarterly gains to 4.2%. Speculation concerning the release of emergency oil supplies from several developed countries contributed to the bearish tone that gripped the oil market most of the last week, however.
“While the exact timing and quantity of the release remains an unknown, a strategic stock release of some sort -- within or without the auspices of the International Energy Agency -- seems highly likely over the next few months,” strategists at Barclays Capital said.
A “large part” of a potential stock release is already priced in, which “has been one of the key deterrents from prices moving higher, the strategists said.
Data released on Sunday delivered a mixed picture on the growth outlook and potential energy demand in China.
An official survey on manufacturing showed a much better-than-expected improvement in March, while a rival survey from HSBC out the same day showed a weaker result. Read more about Chinese manufacturing.
European manufacturing data was in line with expectations and showed a contraction for the eight straight month.
“This mixed bag of information has crude heading lower, albeit moderately; focus to start the week is less on geopolitical tension, and more on data and its pointers for future oil demand,” said Matt Smith, an analyst with Summit Energy, in a note to clients.
Meanwhile, May gasoline RBK2 +0.08% gained less than a cent to trade at $3.31 a gallon. May heating oil HOK2 +0.0032% declined less than a penny to $3.17 a gallon.
Natural gas continued to hover around 10-year lows, with the May contract NGK12 -0.94% off 3 cents, or 1.2%, to $2.10 per million British thermal units.
