NYMEX oil, products tumble in commodities sell-off

NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil and refined product futures tumbled in a sell-off that has struck commodities markets amid concerns about a slowing economy and continued turmoil in the banking and financial arenas.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, April crude CLJ8 futures fell nearly $7 or 6.3 percent after hitting a record hear $112.

April RBOB gasoline RBJ8 slid more than than 22 cents or 8.33 percent while April heating oil slumped more than 15 cents or 5.08 percent.

"The broad-based sell-off has caused a tremendous amount of de-leveraging," said Jim Ritterbusch, president at Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois.

"Cash has become the new safe haven. RBOB is naturally leading the way down. The (gasoline) fundamentals have been so weak with the huge supply hang over," he added.

At 2:05 p.m. EDT (1805 GMT), April crude CLJ8 was down $4.80 or 4.36 percent at $105.41 per barrel, trading $103.23 to a record $111.80.

In London, May Brent crude LCOK8 fell $4.58 or 4.3 percent to $101.62 a barrel, trading from $99.50 to $107.97.

"There is little question the market is overbought and could become even more vulnerable to selling due to the deteriorating economic conditions, as well," Mike Fitzpatrick at MF Global said in daily report..

The sharp losses in crude oil futures were seen as a temporary set back by most technical analysts who viewed the move as a bull market correction. [ID:nL17163715]