1st LD Writethru: Oil prices stabilize after heavy selloff

Oil prices steadied Tuesday after prior day's sharp decline.

Oil prices plunged Monday amid worries about global supply glut. Global crude supplies increased as oil fields in eastern Libya resumed working after a pipeline was mended, according to Libya's National Oil Corp.

The market focused on the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech about monetary policy and the U.S. economy before the Senate Banking Committee in two minutes.

The Fed would not raise rates before it finds confidence in the economic recovery, overcoming worries about the wages and the below-objective inflation, Yellen said on the first of her two-day congressional testimonies Tuesday.

When the Fed hikes rates, it would be a signal of confidence in the economic fundamentals, she added.

On the economic front, U.S. consumer confidence, which had increased in January, declined in February, the New York-based research group Conference Board said Tuesday in a report. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index registered 96.4 in February, down from 103.8 in January.

U.S. home prices didn't change much in last December. The National Home Price Index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions, recorded a 4.6 percent annual gain in December 2014 versus 4.7 percent in November.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery lost 17 cents to settle at 49.28 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery moved down 24 cents to close at 58.66 dollars a barrel. Endite