By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices declined Wednesday to give back some of the gains recorded the previous day, as U.S. equity futures nudged lower and as traders awaited the Energy Information Administration’s report on weekly inventories.
August futures for light, sweet crude-oil CLQ2 -0.52% fell 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $88.99 a barrel in electronic trading.
The drop came a day after the commodity futures rose 79 cents to complete a five-session winning streak on Tuesday, although Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke refrained from offering any clear hint of further monetary-policy stimulus.
The energy markets also awaited the weekly EIA report due later in the day, with analysts polled by Platts expecting crude supplies to drop 1.4 million barrels in the week to July 13.
Data released late Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute showed a larger-than-expected decline of 2 million barrels in crude-oil inventories. API report
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a likely lower opening on Wall Street Wednesday, with Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.62% futures shedding 10 points, or 0.1%, to 12,727, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index SPX +0.74% gave up 1.70 points, or 0.1%, to 1,356.80.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, August futures for natural-gas NGQ12 -0.11% and heating-oil HOQ2 -0.22% dropped 0.2% to $2.79 per million British thermal units and 0.1% to $2.84 per gallon, respectively.
Gasoline futures for delivery in the same month RBQ2 -0.01% rose 0.2% to $2.85 per gallon.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
