Crude-oil futures softened marginally in Asian trade Friday but retained the bulk of strong overnight gains that helped push U.S. oil prices over the $60 a barrel mark. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $60.56 a barrel at 0316 GMT, down $0.16 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.20 to $66.34 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude on Nymex had gained nearly 3% in the previous trading session, while Brent crude had gained around 2.3%. “Oil market sentiment remains buoyant, reflecting a considerable confidence that the market will rebalance as demand grows and U.S. shale oil production declines,” analyst Tim Evans at Citi Futures said in a report. But stronger demand and weaker U.S. oil production are not enough to tighten the market fast enough, and materially stronger […]