A lack of significant cues and a mixed U.S. oil inventory saw narrow movement only in oil futures in Asian hours on Thursday. On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $97.61 a barrel at 0620 GMT–up $0.23 in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.03 to $106.28 a barrel. U.S. crude-oil supplies rose by 400,000 barrels in the week ended Jan. 31, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Analysts expected supplies to have risen by 2.2 million barrels, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal. The increase was more than offset by a 5.8 million-barrel drop in refined-product stocks, BNP Paribas said. “Essentially this was a mixed bag that elicited a mixed and limited price response. Upcoming refinery maintenance in the face of crude production increases is likely to become […]