Crude oil drops close to $92

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NEW YORK, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- The price of a barrel of crude oil shed $1.27 Monday to close near $92 per barrel as equities tumbled on Wall Street.

Prices, which were pressured by equities and a higher dollar, had little support from manufacturing data from China, as well.

The HSBC Purchasing Manager's Index for China for February came in with a positive 50.4, just ahead of the break-even point of 50. Economists had been expecting the index to match January's mark of 52.3.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil for April delivery ended the day at $92.09 per barrel. Gasoline prices on the exchange dropped 4.13 cents to finish at $3.2335 per gallon.

Heating oil shed 3.88 cents to $3.0686 per gallon. Natural gas gained 18.9 cents to hit $3.466 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was unchanged from Sunday to Monday at $3.777 per gallon, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.