Oil bounces modestly as dollar edges lower

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) � Oil prices ticked back up in electronic trade Friday after heavy losses over the past two days, though some analysts offered bearish near-term forecasts.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil for April delivery CLJ3 �rebounded by 39 cents, or 0.4%, to $93.23 a barrel during Asian hours, trimming just a bit off the contract�s $2.38 tumble in Thursday�s New York Mercantile Exchange session.

Likewise, London-traded April Brent crude UK:LCOJ3 �tacked on 54 cents, or 0.5%, to rise to $114.07 after plunging by $2.07 Thursday.

Reuters A Petrobras oil platform at a shipyard in Rio de Janeiro.

Just two days earlier, Nymex had settled at $96.66 a barrel, while Brent sat at $117.52.

Friday�s mild rebound came amid a small decline for the U.S. dollar, with the ICE dollar index DXY �slipping to 81.305 from 81.377 late Thursday in North America, though it remained well above late Wednesday�s 81.074 level.

A falling U.S. unit can often help boost prices of dollar-denominated commodities such as crude oil, as it makes them less expensive to holders of other currencies.

The mini-recovery also pushed Nymex and Brent crudes back from technical support levels tipped by some analysts.

VTB Capital, for instance, had pegged near-term support for Nymex at the $92.50-$93 level � April crude finished Thursday�s regular session at $92.84 a barrel.

For Brent, the VTB Capital analysts saw support at $114, but added �there is more support at $113 in case of a prolonged correction.�

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GFT Markets Technical Analyst Fawad Razaqzada, meanwhile, had said earlier in the week that Nymex could receive some support at $93.25, while Brent was supported at $115.

After the two benchmark crudes broke through those floors Thursday, Razaqzada wrote that �both the Brent and [Nymex] contracts have formed clear reversal patterns, which we have been tracking for a number of days now, so speculators are just selling the rallies rather than buying the dips.�

And Citi Futures analysts � who had been advising shorting both contracts � recommended holding on to those short positions, with stop-loss buy orders at $97.25 for Nymex and $118.70 for Brent.

Other energy futures also enjoyed some minor gains Friday, as March heating oil HOH3 �added a penny, or 0.4%, to $3.11 a gallon, while March gasoline RBH3 �also improved by 1 cent, or 0.4%, to $3.05 a gallon.

March natural gas NGH13 �held steady at $3.25 per million British thermal units.