By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures rose marginally on Friday ahead of data expected to show that the U.S. economy expanded at the fastest pace in nearly four years during the fourth quarter. Crude for March delivery gained 16 cents to stand at $73.80 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Earlier, the contract hit an intraday high of $74.12. Oil prices were buoyed by indications of a slightly higher opening on Wall Street, as investors awaited the release of fourth-quarter U.S. GDP, due from the Commerce Department is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect a 5.4% annualized rate of expansion after a 2.2% increase in the third quarter. That would be the fastest growth since the first quarter of 2006. Oil prices finished fractionally lower on Thursday, paring most of their intraday losses. Elsewhere in the commodity markets, copper futures dropped 3.7%. A selling frenzy similar to the one that hit copper is unlikely to engulf oil prices "given Thursday's rather encouraging session where funds refused to bail out, this despite weaker equities, crashing metal prices, and a much stronger dollar," said Edward Meir, senior commodity analyst at MF Global. If these three markets stabilize over the next two days, oil prices could stage a modest technical recovery to a rannge in the high $70s, Meir wrote in a note to clients. However, concerns over oil demand are likely to persist. The U.S. government reported earlier this week that gasoline stockpiles rose 2 million barrels last week and that distillates increased by 400,000 barrels. Also in Friday's Globex trading, March natural-gas futures rose 10 cents, or 1.9%, to $5.24 per million British thermal units.

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