US gasoline demand slips on high prices-MasterCard

NEW YORK, Jan 2 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand fell last week as high pump prices put a damper on holiday travel, MasterCard Advisors said Wednesday.

"It is not unusual to see this kind of week-to-week volatility, but the larger trend is that demand is down versus a year ago amid higher prices," said Michael McNamara, vice president of MasterCard Advisors.

American motorists pumped 9.495 million barrels per day of gasoline on average in the week that ended Dec. 28, down 1.45 percent from the previous week, according to MasterCard's weekly SpendingPulse report.

That amount was 5.5 percent below the same week a year ago, according to the data. The four-week average for gasoline purchases, meanwhile, was down 1.0 percent from a year ago at 9.529 million bpd.

Average U.S. retail gasoline prices held steady at $2.98 a gallon, up from $2.32 a gallon a year ago, the report said.

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).

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its report on nationwide fuel inventories on Thursday morning, a day later than usual due to the New Year's holiday. [EIA/S] (Reporting by Richard Valdmanis, editing by Matthew Lewis)