Summary WTI prices got a boost last week from data showing robust US consumer spending.
SINGAPORE (AFP) - Oil prices eased in Asian trade Monday as dealers booked profits after strong gains last week fuelled by positive US economic data and the tensions in Ukraine.
New York s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery eased 25 cents to $101.42 a barrel in afternoon trade and Brent North Sea crude for May dipped 16 cents to $107.91.
Tan Chee Tat, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, told AFP: "We are seeing some easing because of some profit taking."
WTI prices got a boost last week from data showing robust US consumer spending.
Orders for US durable goods -- a key indicator of the economy -- rose 2.2 percent in February from the prior month, beating expectations for a 1.0-percent decline.
Investors are also tracking events in Europe as the top diplomats from the US and Russia held talks to find a solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
Russian troops are massed on the borders of eastern Ukraine, sparking fears about Moscow s plans after it took control of the Crimean peninsula this month.
While the two failed Sunday to reach a breakthrough deal in Paris they did agree to keep talking after what were described as "frank" and "constructive" negotiations.
The latest bid to resolve the worst East-West standoff in the post-Cold War era came after Russian leader Vladimir Putin unexpectedly called US President Barack Obama on Friday.
Russia provides about a quarter of Europe s natural gas supplies, with about 80 percent of those exports travelling through pipelines in Ukraine, analysts say.
Traders fear that an escalation of the crisis would disrupt those supplies.
