Investing.com - Crude oil prices in Asia held mostly flat on Tuesday in subdued trade with Japan markets shut and the region gearing up for the May 1 holiday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil for delivery in June traded at $100.85 a barrel, flat, after hitting an overnight session low of $100.39 a barrel and a high of $101.52 a barrel.
Brent crude for delivery in June fell $1.46, or 1.3%, to $108.12 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange on Monday, the lowest settlement since April 11.
Overnight, crude futures fell on Monday amid anticipation that oil shipments will resume from Libyan ports once closed by rebels, offsetting solid U.S. housing data.
Libyan government officials and rebels reached an agreement to re-open oil ports earlier this month, and expectations for crude to begin flowing sent prices falling on Monday, as investors braced for increased global supply, offsetting bullish U.S. data.
The National Association of Realtors reported earlier that pending home sales jumped 3.4% in March, far surpassing expectations for a 1% gain.
Pending home sales for February were revised to a 0.5% drop from a previously reported decline of 0.8%, though March's figure marked the first increase in nine month, a sign the U.S. economy is gaining steam and will demand more fuel and energy going forward.
Elsewhere, the U.S. slapped fresh sanctions on Russia earlier, which supported the commodity briefly.
The third round of sanctions out of Washington targeted seven individuals and 17 companies, which support oil by stoking concerns the crisis could affect Russian exports, though Libya supply expectations kept prices in negative territory.
Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia.