* U.S. crude stockpiles jump most since October 2008
* Coming Up: U.S. weekly jobless claims; 1230 GMT
* For a technical view, click: []
(Updates prices, adds European content)
By David Turner
LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - Oil was steady at around $77 on
Thursday after falling the previous day on weak durable goods
data and the biggest weekly increase in crude inventories for
nearly two years in the United States.
U.S. crude stocks surged 7.31 million barrels last week as
imports jumped, government statistics showed on Wednesday, while
the nation's gasoline and distillate stocks including diesel
gained for the fifth and ninth consecutive weeks respectively.
However, rises in equities in early European trading
<> [] provided a bullish counterbalance for oil,
following mild Thursday falls on most Asian bourses.
Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt,
said: "We have conflicting signals that keep oil in this narrow
range. Optimism in stock markets and the weaker U.S. dollar
<.DXY> is supporting prices. Weaker U.S. economic data, rising
stockpiles and fears of a double dip in the US are weighing on
prices."
Wall Street slipped on Wednesday <.SPX> [] after new
orders for long-lasting manufactured goods posted their largest
decline since August, in a fresh sign the U.S. economy slowed in
the second quarter. The country's jobless claims, due later in
the day, will provide further evidence of how well the world's
largest economy is performing.
U.S. crude for September <CLc1> advanced 18 cents to $77.17
a barrel by 0823 GMT. ICE Brent <LCOc1> gained 19 cents to
$76.25.
Oil has been trading within a $70-$80 range for nearly two
months. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) has for the past year and a half expressed a preference
for oil to remain stable at around $75 a barrel, saying that
price encourages investment to sustain and increase production
capacity and does not threaten the economic recovery.
"In a crisis situation you need stability," said Jonathan
Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in
Sydney. "Crude is very stable. This suggests to me that the
forces of supply and demand are at ease with each other."
Oil analysts including Michael Wittner from Societe Generale
pointed out that total U.S. product demand growth was robust at
3.4 percent over the past four weeks from a year earlier,
according to EIA figures.
But supply accumulation is outpacing consumption at a time
when the U.S. economy is recovering from the most severe
recession of the post-war era.
The U.S. economy kept growing overall in recent weeks, but
unevenly and actually slowing in a few regions as housing
markets softened after the end of a popular tax break, the
Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. []
Last week's gain in U.S. crude stockpiles was the biggest
since October 2008, according to statistics from the U.S. Energy
Information Administration, which published Wednesday's
inventory report. U.S. weekly crude imports reached 11.12
million barrels last week, the highest level since August 2006.
Many analysts had expected total crude stocks to be lower on
disruptions from Tropical Storm Bonnie as it approached the Gulf
of Mexico last week. But Bonnie dissipated at the weekend
without damaging regional energy infrastructure, although some
oil production was interrupted late in the week.
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa; Editing by Jane
Baird)
