Nymex crude oil futures ticked lower on Tuesday, as thin buying weighed on the market and following a heavy sell-off in the past sessions.
Nymex front-month July futures inched down four cents at $38.62 a barrel, on moderate trading volume of 1,842 contracts.
One broker cited front-month resistance at $39.07 a barrel based on a 40-day moving average, while the front-month support was pegged at $37.95 a barrel according to the June 7 low.
"There is quite a sell-off in prices for the past few days and the market sentiment overall is bearish," one broker said. Opec's decision to raise official output limits sparked the selling, he said.
"The next thing to guide the market is the statistics, which will provide direction," said the broker, referring to the weekly US oil statistics due on Wednesday.
A Reuters poll of eight industry analysts showed they forecast an increase of about 2.0 million barrels in gasoline stocks and an increase of 1.6 million barrels in crude for the week to June 4.
July crude ended 17 cents higher to $38.66 a barrel on Monday, well below last week's 21-year high of $42.45. July Brent was untreated after settling 29 cents or 0.8 percent, higher at $35.96 a barrel on Monday.
Nymex July gasoline was up 0.31 cent at $1.2045 a gallon after rising 2.35 cents, or 2 percent, to $1.2014 on Monday. Nymex gasoline rose amid talk a fluid catalytic cracking unit at the ChevronTexaco refinery in Mississippi was down. Company officials declined to comment.
The refinery has a crude distillation capacity of about 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) and a cat-cracking capacity of about 70,000-bpd. Nymex will be closed on Friday to observe a national day of mourning following the death of former President Ronald Reagan.
Nymex July heating oil was up 0.42 cents at 99.34 cents a gallon. On the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM), the November crude oil was up 20 yen at 22,080 yen per kiloliter (yen/kl).
December gasoline weakened 350 yen at 31,160 yen/kl. December kerosene traded 700 yen lower at 34,990 yen/kl while December gas oil gained 150 yen at 32,150 yen/kl.