Brent crude fell, shrinking its premium to West Texas Intermediate to the least since September, as signs of a slowdown in China bolstered speculation of reduced demand in the world’s second-largest oil consumer. Futures dropped as much as 0.5 percent in London , narrowing the gap to WTI for a fifth day. China’s exports and imports unexpectedly declined in March as the economy headed for its slowest growth since the global financial crisis. U.S. crude stockpiles gained for the 11th time in 12 weeks while gasoline supplies slid, the Energy Information Administration reported. “These trade figures have cooled off the market,” Gordon Kwan , the regional head of oil and gas research at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong , said by phone today. “That suggests intensifying concerns about weak manufacturing and slowing growth in the Chinese economy.” Brent for May settlement decreased as much as 52 cents to […]