SEOUL, Feb 17 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures extended gains
in early Asian trades on Thursday, helped by a
less-than-expected
rise in U.S. crude inventory and fresh tension between Israel
and Iran that fuelled concern about Middle East unrest.
The Energy Information Administration's weekly stock report
showed crude oil stockpiles rose only 860,000 barrels last week,
against a forecast for stocks to be up 2.2 million barrels.
In the oil-producing region of the Middle East, two Iranian
warships planned to sail through the Suez canal en route to
Syria, Israel said, calling it a "provocation" by the Islamic
Republic.
Oil markets were already jittery after reports of clashes in
Iran, Yemen and Bahrain and a rare show of unrest in Libya added
to fears that the kind of unrest that toppled the presidents of
Egypt and Tunisia could spread to Middle East oil producers and
disrupt oil flow in the region.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude for March delivery was up 23 cents or
0.27 percent at $85.22 a barrel by 0021 GMT, after settling up
67
cents, or 0.79 percent, at $84.99 a day earlier.
* U.S. crude's discount against Brent crude was at $16.21
<CL-LCO1=R> after marking a record $16.31 on Wednesday, as ICE
Brent crude futures hovered to the highest since September 2008,
above $104 a barrel.
* Brent April crude was up $2.14, or 2.11 percent,
at
$104.29 a barrel against its near 2-1/2 year high close at
$103.78.
MARKET NEWS
* U.S. distillate stockpiles fell 3.1 million barrels, much
more than the 800,000-barrel drop that had been expected.
Gasoline stockpiles rose 205,000 barrels, far less than the rise
of 1.7 million barrels expected.
* Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel that
the militant group would avenge the death of slain commander
Imad
Moughniyeh, who was killed in a bombing in Damascus three years
ago.
* U.S. core wholesale prices rose in January at their
fastest
rate in more than two years.
* U.S. industrial production slipped 0.1 percent in January,
the first decline since June 2009, after rising 1.2 percent in
December.
* Housing starts jumped 14.6 percent in January, but permits
for future building fell 10.4 percent, the Commerce Department
said.
* The U.S. dollar sank on Wednesday on the news of the
Israel-Iran tension, with the euro rising 0.5 percent against
the
dollar to $1.3562 , its second consecutive daily gain,
while the dollar's nearly two-week rally against the yen came to
a halt.
* The S&P 500 rose on Wednesday to twice its value from just
two years ago, a bounce whose vigor has not been seen since the
Great Depression, to close above 1,333.58, double the intraday
low hit in early March 2009.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.50 percent
to 12,288.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.63
percent to 1,336.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index added
0.76 percent to 2,825.56.
UPCOMING DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
N/A Europe ARA weekly oil product inventory data.
0900 Euro zone current account for Dec
0900 Euro zone net investment flow for Dec
1100 UK CBI trends - orders for Feb
1330 Weekly U.S. jobless claims
1330 U.S. CPI/CORE CPI for Jan
1330 U.S. real earnings for Jan
1445 U.S. weekly consumer comfort index
1500 Euro zone consumer confidence for Feb
1500 U.S. leading indicator for Jan
1530 EIA issues weekly U.S. underground natural gas stocks
2130 Federal reserve weekly balance sheet
2350 Minutes of BOJ's Jan. 24-25 meeting
(Reporting by Cho Mee-young; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
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Asia... Europe... Americas...
CRUDE OIL MARKET NEWS
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PRICES
For all Official Selling Prices......................
For a POLL on oil prices............................
NYMEX and ICE oil futures...........................
TOCOM crude oil futures.............................<0#JCO:>
Dubai, Oman swaps and spread...............
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