* U.S. crude briefly touches highest price in a year
* EIA inventory shows surprise drop in gasoline, distillates
* Q3 Goldman Sachs profit quadruples, shares fall
(Updates prices, adds EIA data, recasts throughout)
By Chris Baldwin
LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Oil rose towards $76 a barrel on
Thursday in its sixth straight session of gains after a
government inventory report showed large drops in gasoline and
distillate stocks, surprising the market.
U.S. crude for November delivery rose 58 cents to $75.76 a
barrel by 1536 GMT, after climbing as high as $76.23, its
highest since October 2008.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> was up 39 cents at $73.49.
U.S. oil product inventories logged surprise falls last week
as refiners curtailed operations, prompting a build in crude oil
supplies, Energy Information Agency data showed on Thursday.
[]
"The market reacted favourably to the report. The draw in
products due to the low refinery rated gave a bullish picture
for the market which wants to go up anyway," said Mike Zarembski
at OptionsXpress in Chicago.
Crude fell earlier in the session after data came out
showing Goldman Sachs' <GS.N> quarterly earnings nearly
quadrupled, but its shares fell on disappointment that so much
of the profit came from trading gains that might not be
sustainable. []
FRAGILE DEMAND
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits in the United
States fell unexpectedly by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted
514,000 in the week ended Oct. 10, the Labor Department said,
the fifth such decline in the last six weeks. []
The dollar was up against the yen and euro following the
unemployment data, and the dollar index <.DXY>, which measures
the dollar against a basket of currencies, climbed from a
14-month low to reach a session high of 75.765
Crude, up 1.8 percent on the year, is now in positive
territory on a year-on-year basis for the first time since Oct.
10, 2008. The six straight days of gains mark its longest
winning streak since July.
Oil has marched in step with a recovery across markets,
echoing rallies in equities, gold and base metals based on the
view that economic recovery was gathering strength.
But traders and analysts remain wary that rising prices
based on expectations of a revived economy are out of step with
still fragile demand for oil.
"There is currently no fundamental reason supporting a price
rise and the path back to $100 per barrel will be a long and
protracted one," analysts at JBC Energy in Vienna said in a note
to clients.
"Poor oil fundamentals, including 6 million b/d of OPEC
spare capacity, a massive middle distillates stock surplus and
terrible refining margins will keep the upside potential in
check," JBC said.
For a graphic showing oil's year-on-year performance, click:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/109/CMD_OILPST1009.gif
For a graphic showing the oil price against world oil
consumption, click here:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/109/CMD_OILDDM1009.gif
For a graphic showing the oil price and days supply, click
here:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/109/CMD_OILSP1009.gif
(Editing by James Jukwey)
