Oil ends higher after drop in gasoline, distillate inventories

Oil futures ended a choppy session in positive territory after data showed a large drop in U.S. gasoline and distillate inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery rose 32 cents, or 0.3%, to close at $102.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier dipping back below the $100 threshold. Crude found some support after weekly inventory data from the Energy Information Administration. Although U.S. crude inventories showed a rise of 700,000 barrels, gasoline inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels last week, versus analyst expectations for a rise of 100,000 barrels, while distillate stocks fell 1.4 million barrels, compared to expectations for a drop of 100,000 barrels.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.