Asia's gasoline crack slipped from a near six-month high on Thursday but steady spot demand and supply cuts due to refinery turnarounds in key producing regions of Asia continued to support market sentiment, trade sources said. Asia's gasoline crack slipped to $7.15 a barrel from $7.19 a barrel in the previous session, its highest since October 2. Falling gasoline inventories in the United States have also propped up sentiment in Asia.
US gasoline stocks fell by 4.6 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. This compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.4 million-barrel drop.
US gasoline stocks have posted declines for five straight weeks and currently total 242 million barrels, the EIA data showed.
Singapore onshore light distillates stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and blending components for petrol rose 1.2 percent or 196,000 barrels to a three-week high of 16.708 million barrels in the week to march 20, data from Enterprise Singapore showed.