* Oil rises over 4.5 pct to top $64 a barrel on G20 hopes
* China approves nearly $600 billion economic stimulus
* Leading economies pledge action to fight recession
* Saudi announces 5 pct cut in Dec supplies to Asian
refiners (Updates prices, adds details)
By Fayen Wong
PERTH, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Oil leapt more than $3 to over
$64 a barrel on Monday, fuelled by top exporter Saudi Arabia's
plans to cut December supplies to Asia, a weaker dollar and
hopes that global economies' plans to lift growth could avert
recession.
Saudi Arabia has told refiners in Asia it would cut
December supplies by 5 percent, providing the most visible
evidence yet that it is adhering to OPEC's agreement last month
to reduce output. []
U.S. light crude for December delivery <CLc1> rose $2.96,
or 4.55 percent, to $64.00 a barrel by 0059 GMT, after rising
as much as $3.26. London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose $1.85 to
$59.20.
"The proposals made at the G20 meeting and the relief
package out of China really helped the markets this morning,"
said Mark Pervan, a senior commodities analyst at the Australia
& New Zealand Bank.
"The message over the weekend was supportive and it is
clear that governments around the world will do all it takes to
prevent a deep global recession."
At the G20 group's annual meet in Brazil, finance ministers
and central bank governors representing 90 percent of the
world's economy vowed to take all necessary measures to get
financial markets back on their feet and counter the credit
crisis.
China went a step further and launched a huge stimulus plan
on Sunday worth nearly $600 billion, kicking off what could be
a round of big spending or interest rate cuts by leading
economies to stave off a recession in many countries
[]
China's solid government spending package to boost domestic
demand is "good news" that will help the global economy ride
out the financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund's
managing director said. (For more on the G20 meeting, click on
[])
The U.S. currency weakened broadly <EUR=> after data on
Friday showed the U.S. economy shed more jobs than expected in
October. [] But the yen fell against the dollar and
euro on Monday as Asian shares were lifted by strong Wall
Street gains and by China's launch of its huge stimulus plan.
[]
Oil lost nearly 10 percent last week and dipped below $60
the previous week, its lowest since March 2007, after a string
of dismal economic data from the United States sharpened fears
of a protracted global recession and growing U.S. energy
stockpiles underscored falling demand in the world's top energy
consumer.
Government data on Friday showed U.S. employers cut
payrolls by 240,000 in October. In addition, the Labor
Department said the U.S. unemployment rate shot up to 6.5
percent from 6.1 percent in September, the highest since March
1994.
Oil's tumble from July highs has already spurred OPEC to
rein in supply from Nov. 1, and some members of the cartel are
talking of reducing production further.
OPEC will cut oil output again if the trend towards lower
prices and slowing demand growth are unchanged when the group
meets in December, Iran's OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi
told Reuters on Sunday, adding to comments by Venezuela's oil
minister Rafael Ramirez last week that OPEC should act again to
reduce output by at least 1 million barrels per day (bpd).
Iran's Khatibi added that the credit crisis and economic
slowdown could shave as much as 3 million bpd from global crude
demand. []
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
