By Eric Yep Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures retreated Friday after a downgrade of Spain's credit rating by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services brought the euro-zone crisis and concerns about economic growth back into focus. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at $103.95 a barrel at 0636 GMT, down $0.60 in the Globex electronic session. June Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.61 to $119.31 a barrel. Nymex crude gave up gains made overnight, when it closed at its highest settlement in three weeks, in line with stronger equities. Investors were weighing a mixed bag of data releases. While U.S. home sales data were better-than-expected, rising 4.1% in March to a two-year high of 101.4, jobs data was weak, with initial jobless claims at a higher-than-expected 388,000. S&P downgraded Spain's sovereign-credit rating by two notches to triple-B-plus from single-A and said it expected Spain's economy to contract by 1.5% in 2012 and 0.5% in 2013. S&P previously forecast GDP growth of 0.3% in 2012 and 1% in 2013. Earlier Friday, the Bank of Japan announced additional monetary easing measures, including a considerable increase in its purchase of Japanese government bonds. However, crude-oil benchmarks were largely unchanged after the BOJ announcement, remaining in negative territory, tracking the euro, which was last trading at $1.3168 compared with $1.3217 late in New York. Oil market participants will look to long-term bond auctions by Italy due later Friday and advance first-quarter U.S. GDP estimates due at 1230 GMT for further cues. "Consumer sentiment could also have some impact," energy consulting firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note, referring to a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan gauge of consumer sentiment, due at 1355 GMT. "As far as the crude markets are concerned, we are viewing both WTI and Brent as trading toward the high side of our anticipated range, and we expect the next significant price move of more than 5% to develop to the downside as this quarter proceeds," Ritterbusch added. Ritterbusch added that the spread between Brent and Nymex, also known as West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, could narrow toward $12-$13/bbl as the Seaway pipeline reversal nears. The spread is around $15.40 a barrel after Brent strengthened against WTI, partly due to additional cargo delays at the Buzzard platform in the North Sea that are keeping European crude supplies comparatively tighter despite increases in OPEC output, Ritterbusch said. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for May--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 108 points to $3.1725 a gallon, while May heating oil traded at $3.1825, 119 points lower. ICE gasoil for May changed hands at $1012.00 a metric ton, down $5.25 from Thursday's settlement. -By Eric Yep, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 6415 4063; eric.yep@dowjones.com

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