Reply #2: Oil hovers below $86 as 2-month rally stalls

[ozymandius]

SINGAPORE – Oil prices hovered below $86 a barrel Thursday in Asia after the U.S. reported rising crude inventory levels, suggesting demand remains muted. ....

Crude shot to an 18-month high above $87 this week from $69 in early February on investor optimism oil demand would increase following a recovering global economy. But U.S. consumption of for oil products has remained weak.

Crude supplies rose for the week ended Friday by a larger-than-expected 2 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration. Over the past four weeks, gasoline demand has averaged 9 million barrels per day, an increase of 1.7 percent from a year ago. ....

In other Nymex trading in May contracts, heating oil was steady at $2.2438 a gallon, and gasoline fell 0.36 cent to $2.3111 a gallon. Natural gas slid 1.1 cents to $4.008 per 1,000 cubic feet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices