Nymex gasoline for January RBF5, +0.74% dropped 7 cents, or 3.7%, to finish at $1.8116 a gallon. Nymex January heating oil HOF5, +0.38% fell 6 cents, or 2.6%, to settle at $2.1544 a gallon. Natural gas for January delivery NGF15, -0.65% declined 13 cents, or 3.3%, to end at $3.8740 per million British thermal units. Natural gas futures are down for four straight sessions, and Tuesday’s settlement was the lowest in a month.
Crude-oil futures fell Tuesday, giving up part of the prior day’s 4% gain and barely holding above the five-year lows hit Friday. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude futures for delivery in January CLF5, +1.02% declined $2.12, or 3.1%, to settle at $66.88 a barrel. Oil futures have been down for five out of the past six sessions. January Brent crude LCOF5, +0.74% shed $2, or 2.8%, to $70.54 a barrel. Brent is down for six out of the last seven sessions.
Tokyo (Nikkei Average) up 0.9% Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index) down 0.4% Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index) up 0.5% (at break) Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) up 0.4% Seoul (Kospi) up 0.3% Mumbai (Sensex) down 0.1% Taipei (Taiex) up 1.5%