SINGAPORE, March 22 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures were
steady on Tuesday as supply concerns triggered by the spreading
unrest in the Middle East supported prices, but uncertainty
about demand from the world's No. 3 consumer Japan capped gains.
Oil prices rose 1 percent on Monday. Total crude trading
volumes remained well below average, continuing last week's
trend and underscoring the uncertainty facing the market and
diminished open interest, brokers and analysts said.
FUNDAMENTALS
* U.S. crude futures for April delivery gained 8
cents to $102.41 a barrel at 0025 GMT after rising $1.26, or
1.25 percent, to settle at $102.33 a barrel, off its high of
$103.35. The April contract expires on Tuesday.
May Brent crude futures edged down 11 cents to
$114.85. It rose $1.03, or 0.9 percent, to settle at $114.96 a
barrel, off its intraday peak of $116.22 on Monday.
* Anti-aircraft fire and explosions reverberated across
Tripoli for a third night on Monday and state television said
several sites had come under attack in the capital.
Western powers had no immediate confirmation they had
launched fresh strikes on Tripoli in a campaign to target Libyan
air defences and enforce a no-fly zone.
* Prime Minister David Cameron tried to reassure a war-weary
public on Monday that Britain's military involvement in Libya
will not drag it into another Iraq-style conflict.
* Top generals, ambassadors and some tribes threw their
support behind Yemen's anti-government protesters on Monday in a
major blow to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's efforts to ride out
demands for his immediate exit.
* Unrest spread in southern Syria on Monday with hundreds of
people demonstrating against the government in three towns near
the main city of Deraa, but authorities did not use force to
quell the latest protests.
* In Japan, the No. 1 reactor at the quake-stricken nuclear
power plant in Fukushima is now able to receive power from the
grid, Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the plant's
operator.
* The reconnection of power at the earthquake-damaged
reactors in Japan is a big step in managing the nuclear crisis,
experts said on Monday, but concerns about radiation in the air,
seawater and food showed the dangers are far from over.
* Japan will allow the release of an additional 22 days
worth of crude oil from privately held reserves, the trade
ministry said. The trade ministry had already allowed the
release of 1.26 million kilolitres from reserves, or three days
worth of demand, last week.
* U.S. gasoline futures posted the strongest
percentage rise on Monday, though heating oil futures
also rose, with gasoline benefiting from the end of the winter
heating season and hopes for better driving demand ahead.
* Also supportive to products were analyst expectations that
weekly reports on U.S. oil inventories will show stockpiles fell
last week.
MARKETS NEWS
* The yen was broadly softer on Tuesday recognising the
risk of intervention, while the U.S. dollar skidded on almost
everything else as investors embraced leveraged risk trades in
stocks and commodity-linked currencies.
* Buyers emerged on Monday in U.S. stocks, enticed by the
biggest proposed merger of the year, though crises in Japan, the
Middle East and North Africa meant market volatility would
continue. Dow component AT&T rose 1.1 percent after the
company announced plans to buy Deutsche Telekom's
T-Mobile USA.
* Nikkei futures at the Osaka Stock Exchange jumped
more than 3 percent on Tuesday on reports of progress to contain
radiation leaks at a quake-stricken nuclear power plant and the
yen's decline from a record high.
DATA/EVENTS
1145 U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Weekly
2030 U.S. API petroleum stocks Weekly
RELATED NEWS
> Experts cautious on Japan nuclear progress
> POLL-US crude stockpiles seen up as imports rise
> US plans more nuclear inspections after Japan
> Gazprom ready to up Europe exports to help Japan
> China commodity imports stall in February
> Saudi export steady as pumps around 9 mbpd
(Reporting by Manash Goswami; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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