SINGAPORE, July 4 (Reuters) - Asia's middle distillates market eased slightly on Friday after a few strong sessions, with traders awaiting clearer direction on spot supply for August.

Sentiment was mostly driven by firmer ICE gasoil gains before the contract expires next week, with front-month supply tightness the main focus despite slight gains in northwest Europe inventories.

Asia supply fundamentals barely moved, with August spot availability expected to be little changed from July, though China's refiners did reduce July export sales slightly after export margins declined.

Spot August cargoes, however, were discussed at higher levels than a month ago.

East-west flows for diesel were becoming more viable, with freight costs on the South Korea-United Kingdom route softening since last week, trade sources said.

Most Middle East and India-loading diesel exports scheduled for the first half of July are heading to northwest Europe or Africa, LSEG ship-tracking data showed.

Jet fuel markets were mostly supported by open arbitrage windows to the U.S. west coast since midweek, though some traders held mixed views on the arbitrage window to northwest Europe and ample regional supplies.

The 10ppm sulphur diesel refining margin GO10SGCKMc1 dipped back to $19.50 a barrel, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions.

Spot market differentials for diesel GO10-SIN-DIF slipped to $1.26 a barrel, holding around two-week highs, while jet fuel cash differentials slipped to discounts of 3 cents a barrel - a three-week low - amid lower-priced offers. JET-SIN-DIF

Regrade JETREG10SGMc1 gained slightly, with discounts at the market's close narrowing to about $1.60 a barrel.

SINGAPORE CASH DEALS O/AS

- No deals for both fuels

INVENTORIES

- Gasoil stocks independently held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp $(ARA)$ refining hub, which include diesel, were up 4% at 1.92 million metric tons as imports rebounded. ARA/

REFINERY NEWS REF/OUT

- A fire-damaged hydrotreater at Marathon Petroleum's MPC.N Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas will remain shut until September, sources familiar with plant operations said on Thursday.

NEWS

- Oil futures fell on Friday after Iran reaffirmed its commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and on expectations that major producers are poised to agree to raise output. O/R

- Freight rates for ESPO Blend crude shipped from the Russian port of Kozmino to China fell to $1.9 million - the lowest since December 2024 - on higher tanker availability and lower June exports, three traders said on Thursday.

- The U.S. imposed sanctions on Thursday against a network that smuggles Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil and on a Hezbollah-controlled financial institutions, the Treasury Department said.

- Low water levels after a drought and heatwave are stopping cargo vessels from sailing fully loaded on the Rhine river in Germany despite rain this week, commodity traders said on Friday.

PRICES

(Reporting by Trixie YapEditing by David Goodman)

((trixie.yap@thomsonreuters.com;))