Oil futures trended modestly higher in electronic trade Thursday, but remained locked within their recent range. Benchmark U.S. crude-oil futures for March delivery rose 11 cents, or 0.1%, during East Asian trading hours to change hands at $97.12 a barrel. The gain pared March crude's 50-cent drop during a regular session on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday. Meanwhile, rival London-traded April Brent North Sea crude futures added 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $117.97 a barrel, extending the contract's 13-cent advance Wednesday. The previous day's drop for Nymex crude had followed data from the Energy Information Administration showing a smaller-than-expected rise in last week's U.S. crude supplies. Read: Oil slips; traders parse through conflicting data. Still, GFT Markets technical analyst Fawad Razaqzada said late Wednesday that the bullish supply data failed to break Nymex crude out of its recent range. “Although [Nymex crude] initially rallied on the news, the sellers started to come in as price touched $98, a level which had previously put a ceiling to prices. As a result, [Nymex crude] turned lower and looks set to test support at $97.00," he said. For Brent, Razaqzada also tipped downward movement, putting the near-term support at $116.70. For the day ahead, crude investors were looking toward euro-zone fourth-quarter gross domestic product data at 5 a.m. U.S. Eastern time, along with U.S. weekly jobless claims due out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Elsewhere in the energy complex, March gasoline tacked on a penny for a 0.4% rise to $3.05 a gallon, while March heating-oil stood its ground at $3.22 a gallon. March natural gas eased by a cent, for a drop of 0.2% to $3.30 per million British thermal units after an 8-cent rally during Wednesday's session. Citi Futures analysts said, however, that while the contract's 2.4% advance in Wednesday trade “managed to produce the highest settlement in March natural gas since Feb. 6, we note that this was achieved by closing in the upper part of the recent trading range, rather than breaking free." Marketwatch
