By V. Phani Kumar and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices gave up earlier gains during European trading hours after U.S. jobless claims rose to the highest level since late January.
May crude-oil futures CLK2 -0.04% were off 0.1%, or 14 cents, at $102.56 a barrel during afternoon European trading hours.
The rise followed a $1.68 advance in the regular New York Mercantile Exchange session Wednesday, when global equity and commodity markets broadly staged a rebound from the previous day’s fall.
Oil futures traded mostly in positive territory during electronic trading hours, but were sent south after U.S. jobless claims disappointed analysts’ expectations. Initial claims jumped by 13,000 last week to 380,000, while claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 367,000 from 357,000.
Meanwhle, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its monthly report that a perceived danger of a supply shortage related to Iran is the only thing keeping oil prices high at present. The organization said its collective output rose by 136,000 barrels a day in March to 31.3 million barrels a day, exceeding the world’s demand from the organization.
Separately, the International Energy Agency said that tightening oil market conditions appear to have eased.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, May gasoline futures RBK2 -0.18% were 0.3% lower at $3.29 per gallon and heating-oil HOK2 -0.13% for the same month lost 0.1% to $3.11 a gallon.
May natural gas futures NGK12 +0.40% , which fell below the $2-level Wednesday, were 0.3% higher at $1.99 per million British thermal units.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter, based in London.
