Date: March 15, 2011/ 3:34am EDT

Market Watch

• OIL FUTURES: Crude Nears $99/Bbl As Japan Nuclear Crisis Worsens

Crude-oil futures fell to around $99 a barrel in Asia trading Tuesday, as the worsening nuclear crisis in Japan heightened economic and demand concerns in the world's third-largest energy consumer.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at $99.20 a barrel at 0703 GMT, down $1.99 in the Globex electronic session. The contract traded as low as $98.67/barrel earlier in the session.

April Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $1.82 to $111.85 a barrel.

The market was repeating a trading pattern seen in the early stages of the previous Asia session, reacting to news of spreading radiation as explosions continued at the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned the accidents have produced a high level of radiation with the danger of further leakage, and radiation as high as 0.809 microsievert an hour was detected in part of Tokyo around 0100 GMT, about 23 times higher than normal levels, but not enough to cause immediate harm to the human body.