NEW DELHI: Asia’s naphtha and gasoline cracks inched higher on Wednesday as inventories at top supplier, Middle East, declined.

The refining profit margin for naphtha rose to $102.48 per tonne, up 95 cents from the last close, while the gasoline margin gained 47 cents at 16.94 a barrel amid firm festive demand.

In physical markets, Glencore purchased 25,000 tonnes of naphtha and Vitol bought a cargo of the benchmark 92-octane grade of gasoline. Stocks of light distillates at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone decreased by 988,000 barrels to a two-week low of 3.944 million barrels in the week ended April 18, according to industry information service S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Meanwhile, US gasoline inventories rose by 2.9 million barrels last week, market sources said.