US weekly gasoline demand rises 5.1 pct-MasterCard

Published: 27 Oct 2009 10:03:10 PST

NEW YORK, Oct 27 - U.S. retail gasoline demand last week rose 5.1 percent from a year ago, according to a MasterCard SpendingPulse report released on Tuesday.

Gasoline demand averaged 9.348 million barrels per day during the week ending Oct. 23, up 0.1 percent from the previous week, according to the weekly report.

The four-week moving average of U.S. gasoline consumption climbed 4.7 percent year-over-year.

Retail prices for gasoline rose 12 cents to a national average of $2.60 a gallon, 7.8 percent below year-ago levels.

MasterCard Advisors estimates retail gasoline demand based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments system coupled with estimates for all other payment forms including cash and checks. MasterCard Advisors is a unit of MasterCard Inc <MA.N>.