U.S. crude price edged down on Tuesday as Moody's warned to downgrade the credit ratings on Britain and France and U.S. retails data came in missing expectations.

Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service cut credit ratings of Italy, Spain and Portugal, while warned Britain. France and Austria to cut their triple-A ratings by putting their outlooks to "negative" from "stable". European debt concerns lingered and damaged oil demand expectation.

Meanwhile, U.S. retails for January rose 0.4 percent, less than market's forecasts.

But rising tension between Iran and Israel and violence in Syria still posed great threat to oil supplies, putting a floor under the prices.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery was down 17 cents, or 0. 17 percent to settle at 100.74 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

But in London, Brent crude edged up and last traded around 118 dollars a barrel.