* U.S. jobless claims data due Thursday
* U.S. crude stock data higher than expected
* Russia gas row, MidEast violence, OPEC cuts in support
(Updates prices, changes dateline, previous SINGAPORE)
By Chris Baldwin
LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Oil traded slightly down on
Thursday, testing $43 after diving 12 percent overnight partly
due to higher than expected U.S. crude stocks data that hardened
evidence of weakening demand.
U.S. crude for February delivery <CLc1> was down 21 cents at
$42.42 a barrel by 0949 GMT, after sinking 12.3 percent to
$42.63 overnight, its biggest one-day percentage loss since
Sept. 24, 2001.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> was up 2 cents at $45.88.
The market will be watching for weekly U.S. jobless claims
due later in the day, and December non-farm payroll and
unemployment data on Friday, expected to be dismal, for clues on
future demand.
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data
showed crude stocks up 6.7 million barrels, more than seven
times the 900,000-barrel increase analysts expected. []
"(Wednesday's) data reinforced our opinion that the weak
global oil demand argument is still very much alive and well,"
Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates, wrote in
a commentary.
Wednesday's bearish reading on private sector payrolls from
ADP Employer Services signalled more weakness to come in
Friday's fuller U.S. Labor Department employment report.
ADP's data showed private employers shedding 693,000 jobs in
December, up from 476,000 jobs in November and far more than
economists estimated. []
JOBLESS
The Labor Department will also release weekly first-time
claims for jobless benefits later on Thursday. Economists in a
Reuters survey forecast a total of 540,000 new filings compared
with 492,000 in the previous week.
Oil has fallen more than $100 from a record peak of over
$147 a barrel in July, as the global economic downturn hits
demand for fuel. It settled at $33.87 a barrel on Dec. 19, the
lowest level since Feb. 10, 2004.
However, prices are getting some support from violence in
Gaza, widening natural gas supply disruptions due to a row
between Russia and Ukraine, and mounting evidence of OPEC's
compliance with production cuts.
Three rockets fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel on
Thursday, slightly wounding two people and prompting the Jewish
state to respond with artillery fire, officials said. It was not
immediately clear who fired the rockets. []
While the conflict does not directly threaten any oil
supplies, Middle East unrest can bolster prices because
countries in the region pump about a third of the world's oil.
Russia and Ukraine will argue their case to Europe on
Thursday in a gas price dispute that is choking off gas flows to
European countries. []
The dispute has cut heating to tens of thousands of
households in Bulgaria and hit supplies as far west as France
and Germany as Europe faces freezing temperatures.
Signs that members of the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) are implementing the group's
biggest-ever output cuts grew this week after Kuwait and Iran
told customers of bigger January supply curbs. []
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Tan in Singapore, editing by
Sue Thomas)
