GLOBAL MARKETS: Asian stocks look to close quarter on upnote
March 31 (Reuters) - Most Asian shares edged up on Thursday, poised to end the quarter on a positive note after being briefly ravaged earlier in the month by a sell-off on Japan's disasters and Middle East turmoil, while the yen weakened on expectations of higher interest rates outside Japan.
The yen has declined to the lowest since May 2010 against the euro in the wake of recent hawkish comments by euro zone, and has slid against the dollar as well after U.S. central bank officials rekindled risk appetite for Japanese exporter stocks.
Oil : Oil slips on inventory rise, supply threats support
NEW YORK, March 30 (Reuters) - Oil prices eased on Wednesday in choppy, thin trading, pressured by record high stockpiles at the Cushing delivery point for U.S. crude even as Libya and Middle East uncertainty supported oil, which remained on track to end the first-quarter up more than 10 percent.
While gasoline inventories declined sharply and lifted U.S. gasoline futures , crude inventories rose more than expected last week and stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub jumped to a record high, according to the Energy Information Administration's weekly report.
NATURAL GAS: Natural gas ends up 2 pct, backed by chilly temps
NEW YORK, March 30 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended with strong gains on Wednesday as chilly Northeast and Midwest weather this week helped prices bounce back after two straight days of selling.
"We should see some storage buying in April, and they could keep the nukes down for (spring) maintenance a little longer, but there's still a lot of gas around," a Texas trader said, noting milder forecasts for next week should slow demand.
EURO COAL: Newcastle falls below $120/T, ARA to $125/T
LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - Prompt European physical coal prices came under increased pressure on Wednesday as more surplus cargoes were offered and sold by utilities and the flow of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Europe ramped up, utilities and traders said.
"It's been the same problem as the past few days, close on the prices but the origins don't match so not a lot in concrete trades," one broker said.
COMMODITIES: Many prices end down, volumes thin before Q1 close
NEW YORK, March 30 (Reuters) - Most commodity prices traded easier on Wednesday, keeping to fairly narrow ranges on razor-thin volumes as many investors waited out the rest of a volatile quarter, but gold profited from safe-haven buying.
"There's nobody going to be willing to take any sort of a trade ahead of what might happen in the next few days. If they had a bad month or a bad quarter, they don't want to make it worse. Or, if they've had a good one, they'd want to leave it alone because it's been very difficult to trade," said Zachary Oxman, managing director with TrendMax Futures in California.
Qatar keeps crude supply to Asia steady in May-source
TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - Qatar, one of OPEC's smallest producers, has notified at least one Asian buyer that it will supply Marine and Land crude at full contracted volumes for May, unchanged from April levels, a trade source said on Thursday.
Qatar gave buyers an option of asking for cargoes to be 5 percent more or less than contracted volumes, the same as the previous month, the source added.
Dutch govt demands clarification on Libyan oil links
AMSTERDAM, March 30 (Reuters) - The Dutch government has asked Oilinvest (Netherlands) BV Group, which markets Libyan oil refiner Tamoil's products, to address concerns about its ownership, a finance ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
"We have concerns that Libyan parties may have influence on the company (Oilinvest) and we would like the company to address them," the spokesman said, adding that talks with Oilinvest were continuing.
Obama calls for deep cuts in U.S. oil imports
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years, a goal that eluded his predecessors and seen as extremely ambitious by analysts sceptical it can succeed.
Obama outlined his strategy after spending days explaining the U.S.-led military action in Libya, where fighting, accompanied by unrest elsewhere in the Arab world, has helped push U.S. gasoline prices toward $4 a gallon.
U.S. oil imports rose 5 pct in January-EIA
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil imports rose for a third month running in January as the stronger economy boosted fuel consumption and as shipments recovered from a two-month dip, the government said on Wednesday.
Crude imports averaged 9.069 million barrels per day in January, a rise of 438,000 bpd from December, the Energy Information Administration said in a monthly report. In December, imports rose 5.6 percent, or 461,000 bpd, to 8.631 million bpd.
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