NYMEX-Crude slips below $97 paring gains, crude stocks seen up
TOKYO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures edged down on Tuesday, paring part of a 1.4 percent gain a day earlier, on investor concerns about the euro zone economy and ahead of data later in the day expected to show a build in U.S. crude inventories.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude for March delivery was down 14 cents at $96.89 a barrel by 0054 GMT, after settling up $1.31 at $97.03 on Monday.
* London Brent crude for March delivery had not yet been traded, after settling down 77 cents at $118.13, with last week's blizzard in the U.S. Northeast, one of the world's biggest gasoline markets, expected to have had little impact on regional fuel supplies.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that new centrifuges Iran was installing for its uranium enrichment programme could cut by a third the time needed to create a nuclear bomb.
* U.S. commercial crude oil stockpiles are expected to have increased 2.9 million barrels last week, a preliminary Reuters poll of four analysts showed on Monday.
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, were projected to be down 800,000 barrels on average, while gasoline inventories were seen unchanged.
MARKETS NEWS
* The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 21.81 points, or 0.16 percent, at 13,971.16 on Monday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 0.92 points, or 0.06 percent, at 1,517.01.
* The yen slid sharply against the dollar and the euro on Monday after a U.S. Treasury official voiced support for Japan's efforts to boost growth and end deflation.
DATA/EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Tuesday: (Time in GMT)
0500 Japan Consumer confid. index Jan 2013
1245 U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Weekly
1900 U.S. Federal budget,$ Jan
2130 U.S. API weekly crude stocks Weekly
2130 U.S. API weekly dist. stocks Weekly
2130 U.S. API weekly gasoline stk Weekly
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Ed Davies)