HONG KONG (MarketWatch) � U.S. crude-oil futures stabilized during Asian trading hours Wednesday as a weakened dollar lent some support to the commodity after a string of recent losses.
The front-month contract for delivery in April CLJ3 �inched up 4 cents to $92.67 a barrel after moving about in a range between $92.58 and $92.90 in electronic trading.
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The April futures had dropped 48 cents overnight on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest finish for a front-month contract since late December.
Despite Wednesday�s marginal gain, oil futures are still down about 5% in February, weighed by worries over the Italian political situation, a well-supplied market and a firm dollar.
Data released by the American Petroleum Institute at the end of the regular Nymex session on Tuesday showed an increase of 904,000 barrels in crude-oil supplies in the U.S.
�We still expect U.S. crude oil stocks to trend higher seasonally until April or May, providing there is still room in the storage tanks,� said Timothy Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures.
The more closely-watched inventories data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected later Wednesday.
April futures for Brent UK:LCOJ3 �rose 9 cents to $112.80.
The ICE dollar index DXY , which measures the greenback�s moves against a basket of six major global currencies, slipped to 81.848 by mid-afternoon in Tokyo, compared with 81.852 in North America late on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, Nymex April gasoline futures RBJ3 �slipped 0.1% to $3.20 a gallon and heating-oil futures HOJ3 �for delivery in the same month were little changed at $3.03 a gallon.
April natural-gas futures NGH13 �climbed 0.1% to $3.46 per million British thermal units.
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