National Petroleum Authority, Ghana

Crude oil traded near $79 a barrel for a fourth day in New York as concern over gains in US fuel supply outweighed rising equity markets. Oil settled unchanged at $78.98 a barrel on Monday after the Commerce Department said home purchases climbed 24% in June to an annual pace of 330,000, bolstering speculation the economic recovery would be sustained. Crude for September delivery was at $78.85 a barrel, down 13 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 3:22 p.m. Singapore time. Monday was the first day since September that oil closed unchanged. Futures have gained 15% in the past year. US gasoline and distillate stockpiles rose last week, analysts said in a Bloomberg News survey. “The economic numbers in general were quite positive lately,” said Serene Lim, a commodity strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore. “We’re still seeing builds in the gasoline inventories which suggest that demand is increasing year-on-year but not as much as expected. So the positive news counterbalanced by the negative has given us a really range-bound market.” Gasoline inventories probably climbed 300,000 barrels last week, based on the median estimate from 11 analysts polled by Bloomberg News before an Energy Department report Wednesday. Stockpiles of distillate fuel, including heating oil and diesel, are expected to have increased by 2 million barrels. Crude inventories probably fell 1.75 million barrels last week, according to the survey.