US gasoline demand 1.7 pct below last year-MasterCard

NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand slipped last week as pump prices held close to a record high, MasterCard Advisors said Tuesday.

Motorists pumped an average of 9.273 million barrels per day in the week ended March 28 which was 0.3 percent less than they had the previous week and 1.7 percent lower than a year ago, according to MasterCard's weekly SpendingPulse report.

"This continues the trend of year-over-year declines that have been observed throughout nine of the last 10 weeks," said Michael McNamara, vice president of MasterCard Advisors.

The four-week average U.S. gasoline consumption rate of 9.203 million bpd was 0.3 percent lower than a year ago, according to the report.

Average gasoline prices, meanwhile, were pegged at $3.27 per gallon, down a penny from the previous week's record and nearly 30 percent higher than a year ago, according to the report.

MasterCard Advisors estimates retail gasoline demand based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments system, coupled with estimates for all other payment forms. MasterCard Advisors is a unit of MasterCard Inc (MA.N: Quote, Profile, Research). (Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by John Picinich)