Crude-oil futures held onto overnight gains in Asian trading hours Friday on heightened tensions between Ukraine and Russia that kept global financial markets on edge. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at $101.92 a barrel at 0549 GMT, down $0.02 in the Globex electronic session. June Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.01 to $110.32 a barrel. Ukrainian forces killed several militants outside a pro-Russian stronghold in eastern Ukraine on Thursday as it attempted to regain control of the region, prompting Russian military exercises on its side of the border. “With Russia warning of ‘consequences’ and Ukraine complaining of Russian ‘interference’ and ‘permanent threats and blackmail,’ worries over the possibility that escalation either via arms or sanctions could disrupt Russian oil and gas exports remained high,” Citi Futures analyst Tim Evans said in a note. U.S. President Barack […]