* Oil falls towards $58 after previous session's 3 pct gain
* China c.banker comments and trade data support prices
* Market eyes U.S. dollar
(Updates prices, adds Asian shares, China trade data)
By Fayen Wong
PERTH, May 11 (Reuters) - Oil fell towards $58 a barrel on
Monday, reversing some of the previous session's near 3 percent
gains, as investors took profit amid warnings that any global
recovery will only be gradual.
Oil rose more than 3 percent on Friday to touch a near
six-month high as economic data showed fewer-than-expected jobs
were lost in April and stress test results lifted some
uncertainty over the health of major American banks.
U.S. crude <CLc1> fell 47 cents to $58.16 a barrel by 0533
GMT. The contract rose $1.92 to settle at $58.63 on Friday.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell 31 cents to $57.83.
"Oil prices are driven by perceptions that the economic
outlook is less pessimistic that previously thought. But the
growth numbers we could be seeing from developed economies may
not justify such price levels," said David Moore, a commodities
strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Still, encouraging news from China, the world's
third-largest economy, helped support oil at above $58 a
barrel.
A top China central banker said the government's stimulus
plan has worked better than expected, while crude imports data
showed a spike in demand. [][]
China, for the years the world's factory floor, plays a big
part in the recovery scenario with many economies in Asia
relying on Chinese demand and markets scrutinising Beijing's
data for any signs of global demand bottoming out.
Oil, which has plummeted from a record of over $147 a
barrel in July, has risen over the past three months on hopes
that the economic recession may be easing.
A strong rally in equities markets, which saw the Nasdaq
cap its longest stretch of weekly gains in a decade on Friday,
has also helped oil prices gain over 14 percent so far this
month and 10 percent last week.
The U.S. economy is expected to begin growing in the second
half of this year, while the jobless rate is expected to peak
in the first quarter of 2010, according to a survey of top
forecasters released on Sunday. []
U.S. employers cut 539,000 jobs last month, the fewest
since October, signalling the economy's steep decline might be
easing and giving the stock market a boost. []
"The steady upward trend in oil's trading range and the
current dynamic is likely to be sufficient to stay OPEC's hand
at the next meeting," Barclays Capital said in a research note
on Friday.
OPEC is not expected to cut output in its coming meeting on
May 28 for political reasons, a Kuwaiti oil official said in
remarks published on Sunday. []
Analysts said a rebound in the U.S. dollar, which fell to a
four-month low on Friday, also posed as a downside risk for
oil. []
Crude oil speculators on the New York Mercantile Exchange
shifted to a net short position in the week to May 5, according
to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
released on Friday. []
(Editing by Ben Tan)
