Crude oil slips close to $102

NEW YORK, April 4 (UPI) -- Crude oil price futures fell nearly $2 to near $102 per barrel Wednesday as stocks were mixed in Asia, but lower in Europe and on Wall Street.

The European Central Bank elected to keep its bank-to-bank lending rate at 1 percent, but the liquidity measure was offset by rising yields on benchmark Spanish bonds.

Also dragging on the oil market, in Tempe, Ariz., the Institute of Supply Management said gains in the U.S. service sector slowed in March. with the Purchasing Managers Index for non-manufacturing falling from 57.3 percent to 56 percent.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May delivery crude oil shed $1.95 cents to $102.06 per barrel. Home heating oil shed 5.46 cents to $3.1726 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline shed 5.65 cents to $3.3389 per gallon.

Natural gas prices lost 5.1 cents to $2.136 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline climbed half a cent, hitting $3.928 per gallon, up from Tuesday's $3.923, AAA said.