* Oil hits highest since Jan. 12, commodities gain
* Market lifted by US payrolls falling less than forecast
* China maintaining stimulus measures also supportive
* Coming up: U.S. commitment of traders report
(Updates prices)
By David Sheppard and Alex Lawler
LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - Oil hit a seven-week high above
$82 a barrel on Friday after a report showed the United States
lost fewer jobs than expected in February and on signals China
will maintain its economic stimulus measures.
Oil rose more than 1.5 percent after a government report
showed U.S. employers cut 36,000 jobs in February, leaving the
unemployment rate unchanged at 9.7 percent. Analysts had
expected non-farm payrolls to drop by 50,000. []
"Given the outlook for persistent job growth in the coming
months, this data is very supportive for energy prices," said
John Kilduff, partner at Round Earth Capital in New York.
The market is also awaiting the Commitments of Traders
report from the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission due
out late Friday to see if speculators extended net long
positions again in the week to March 2.
U.S. crude for April <CLc1> gained $1.34 to $81.55 a barrel
by 12:13 p.m. EST (1713 GMT), after trading as high as $82.07,
the highest intraday price for a nearby contract since Jan. 12.
Brent crude for April <LCOc1> advanced $1.38 to $79.92 a
barrel.
Equity markets in Europe and the United States were both up
on the day after the jobs report. []
Signals that China will maintain its economic stimulus
measures supported prices earlier in the session. China is the
world's second-largest oil consumer, after the United States.
China's Premier Wen Jiabao, in his annual address to the
National People's Congress, said the country will continue an
appropriately easy monetary stance and an active fiscal policy.
[]
China escaped the worst of the global slump by ramping up
credit, slashing interest rates and launching a 4 trillion yuan
($585 billion) infrastructure programme in late 2008.
But in the past two months, China has restricted the amount
of money that banks can lend by enforcing higher cash reserve
ratios, aiming to prevent an over-heating of the economy.
STRAIT OF MALACCA
A risk of disruption to shipping in the Strait of Malacca
also supported prices.
Singapore raised alert levels in the city-state and beefed
up security at its airport and new casino resorts after a
warning by its navy on Thursday of possible attacks on oil
tankers in the Strait of Malacca. []
The Strait is a key shipping lane that carries about 40
percent of world trade, including an average of 15 million
barrels of crude oil every day.
New York crude has traded in a $69 to $84 range over the
past few months amid uncertainty about the speed of the global
economic recovery. Some traders and analysts say currency
movements could dominate the oil price as the strength of
demand remains unclear during the recovery.
"Fundamentally, the oil market has yet to see some signs of
improving demand from OECD states, while we are also concerned
about the pretty much flat forward curve as investors still
harbour worries over the cyclical recovery," VTB Capital
analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.
Oil prices for contracts to be delivered in January 2012
are less than $5 a barrel above the current oil price.
(Additional reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore and
Robert Gibbons in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
