Futures were little changed in New York after rising 2.3 percent yesterday, the most in three months, as Ukraine mobilized its army in response to Russian forces taking control of the Crimea peninsula. Distillate stockpiles, including heating oil and diesel, probably shrank by 1 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts before an Energy Information Administration report tomorrow. WTI’s advance may be unsustainable, a technical indicator shows.

“Demand in the U.S. is still quite good,” said David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney. “Saber-rattling over Ukraine spooked the market yesterday. The arrival of an external power pushed markets a notch higher.”

WTI for April delivery was at $104.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 14 cents, at 12:10 p.m. Sydney time. The contract climbed $2.33 to $104.92 yesterday, the highest close since Sept. 19. The volume of all futures traded was about 33 percent below the 100-day average. Prices have gained 6.5 percent this year.

Brent for April settlement was down 5 cents at $111.15 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $6.37 to WTI. The spread closed at $6.28 yesterday, narrowing for a fifth day.

WTI’s 14-day relative strength index closed at 71.9 yesterday, the highest level since Feb. 19, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Today’s reading is above 70, signaling the market remains overbought.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Pratish Narayanan at pnarayanan9@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-03/wti-trades-near-five-month-high-as-fuel-supplies-seen-falling.html

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