U. S. crude oil futures settled slightly lower on Tuesday, but only after hitting a 2009 peak above $69 a barrel intraday as trading seesawed with oil markets consolidating and taking a breather after six consecutive sessions to the upside.

U. S. natural gas futures followed crude oil in the sessions and ended the day down by more than 3% on NYMEX.

API reports weekly crude stocks are off 0.828 mln bbls, less than the 1.4mln bbls expected. Gasoline stocks are up 99,000 bbls, less than the 0.4mln bbls build expected.

Ahead of industry and government inventory reports, a Reuters survey of analysts on Monday yielded a forecast for crude supplies to have fallen last week. Products supplies and refinery utilization were expected to have risen.

The National Weather Service eight- to 14- day outlook on Monday called for normal or below normal temperatures for most of the nation, except in Texas, where above seasonal readings were expected.

On the storage front, last week's report from the U. S. Energy Information Administration showed total domestic gas inventories stood at 2.213 trillion cubic feet, 524 billion cubic feet, or 31 percent, above last year and 22 percent above the five-year average.

Energy complex looks good for the day. We expect crude oil to move upside, getting support from weakening dollar. We recommend buying crude oil and Natural gas at every dip.

Crude prices look bullish with higher close in every session. The ADX and RSI are still in rising phase, thus supporting the upside in crude. However, looking at the RSI (78) in overbought zone sets caution alarm. One should not aggressively buy crude at this higher levels. During the day one can buy at lower levels with a Stop loss of earlier close of 3175.

Natural Gas prices made an attempt to move up to 201.9, but later closed lower at 194.8. Natural gas can fall back to 190- 192 levels during the day. These levels can be looked as buying opportunities, with a stop loss of 187, targeting 204 on the upside. The ADX remains positive along with rising RSI indicating that natural gas can be bought at dips.