* U.S. consumer sentiment dips in early March
* Wall Street moves lower on consumer sentiment
* IEA slightly raises 2010 world oil demand forecast
(Recasts, updates prices, market actvity)
By Rebekah Kebede
NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - Oil slipped more than 1
percent to below $81 a barrel on Friday, as data showing a drop
in consumer confidence brought back investor concerns about
energy demand.
The front-month U.S. crude <CLc1> fell $1.12 to $80.99 a
barrel by 1:42 p.m. EDT (1842 GMT), reversing earlier gains.
The contract had climbed as high $83.16, the highest since
$83.95 on Jan. 11.
In London, Brent crude <LCOc1> fell $1.15 to $79.13.
U.S. consumer sentiment declined slightly in early March,
with Americans less positive about the job outlook, a survey
released on Friday showed. []
"The consumer confidence number and looking at the revision
to January of the retail sales pulled crude back down," Richard
Ilczyszyn senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago.
Profit-taking also pulled prices lower, some analysts
said.
"People are taking profits after the recent surge to above
$83.... At the same time, you're seeing a weakening of the
stock markets and that's also pulling down oil," said Mark
Waggoner, president of Excel Futures in Newport Beach,
California.
Stocks on Wall Street turned lower on the consumer
sentiment data, which outweighed an unexpected increase in
retail sales.[]
IEA REPORT
Crude oil prices received little support from an
International Energy Agency (IEA) report on Friday that said
world oil demand this year will be slightly higher than
previously expected because of growth in developing countries.
[]
The agency lifted its absolute demand estimates for 2009
and 2010 by 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) from its estimate in
February. It now expects world demand to average 86.57 million
bpd this year.
"We revised up figures for both 2009 and 2010 on the basis
of strong non-OECD demand," David Fyfe, head of the oil
industry and markets division of the IEA, told Reuters.
By contrast, the 2010 OECD forecast was revised down,
largely due to expectations of lower first-quarter heating oil
demand in Europe and continued North American weakness, notably
in middle distillates, the IEA said.
Officials at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries, which meets in Vienna on March 17 to discuss
production policy, have said they do not expect a change in
targets while prices are within their desired range.
[]
(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons and Gene Ramos in New
York; Chris Baldwin in London; Alejandro Barbajosa in
Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio)
