US gasoline demand falls despite price slide-Mastercard

NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand slipped last week despite a fall in the national average price for the fuel, MasterCard Advisors said on Tuesday.

American motorists pumped an average of 8.898 million barrels per day in the week that ended Nov. 7, down 1.3 percent from the previous week, MasterCard said in its weekly SpendingPulse report.

Demand for the fuel remained 4.2 percent below year-ago levels, as the U.S. economy continued to slow down.

The four-week moving average for gasoline demand was also lower, down 5.3 percent from a year ago.

National average prices slid another 24 cents -- or 9.4 percent -- to $2.32 per gallon, about where it was in late February 2007.

A Reuters poll showed energy analysts believe that the Energy Information Administration will report gasoline stocks rose 300,000 barrels. [EIA/S]

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). (Reporting by Janet McGurty; editing by Jim Marshall)