* Limited risk appetite seen returning
* Oil keeps on moving up after 9 pct surge
* Investors eye U.S. unemployment data, non-farm payrolls
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By Chris Baldwin
LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Oil slipped only slightly to
near $52 a barrel on Friday, after surging by nearly 9 percent
the day before, as global markets viewed the outcome of the G20
summit as paving the way for some risk appetite to return.
Oil made its largest one-day percentage gain in three weeks
on Thursday as markets rallied after world leaders at the summit
announced a trillion-dollar deal to act on the economic crisis.
U.S. light crude for May delivery <CLc1> fell 42 cents to
$52.22 a barrel by 1218 GMT, down from Thursday's $4.25 gain
that lifted the contract to $52.64.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell 28 cents to $52.47.
Some market watchers said recent price rises in the crude
market, in spite of low demand and heavy supply, were likely to
be a sign investors were turning to investments seen as
involving more risk, which can include oil.
"The last two weeks has been fairly encouraging," said David
Dugdale, a London-based energy analyst at MFC Global Investment
Management.
"(U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy) Geithner's procedures for
quantitative easing and yesterday's G20 seem to have provided
enough for the bulls to now move into risk assets."
The market on Friday will keep a keen watch on economic
data, including U.S. March unemployment, non-farm and
manufacturing payrolls, due to be released at 1500 GMT, to gauge
the health of the world's largest economy.
WHERE NOW?
Analysts at J.P. Morgan wrote in a note to investors that
recent OPEC production cuts seem to have tightened supply, and
said a build in U.S. crude oil in the last three weeks was an
"inventory head fake" -- a false signal of direction.
"If there was truly a significant global surplus, you would
not only expect crude oil stocks to be building onshore, but you
would also expect the contango on global benchmarks to be
widening."
Contango is a market term meaning prices for future delivery
are above current levels. When there is a wide contango it pays
for some investors to store oil on ships to sell at a later
date.
In the past month the spread for Brent futures <BFO-> has
narrowed from $1.44 on March 3 to around $1.23 on Friday,
according to Reuters data.
"The tightening of spreads had meant that the floating
storage play is no longer as profitable as it once was," J.P.
Morgan analysts wrote.
In January, oil majors, traders and OPEC producers were
thought to be storing 60-70 million barrels of oil at sea,
mostly in the U.S. Gulf, with Norway's Frontline estimating the
armada of tankers holding up to 80 million barrels.
ENCOURAGING WEEKS
U.S. factory orders rose in February for the first time in
seven months, and a rebound in China's official purchasing
managers' index (PMI) in March showed the Chinese economy may
have bottomed, China's chief statistics official said on Friday.
European shares were lower at midday on Friday in a choppy
session, on track to snap a three-day rising streak as investors
awaited the U.S. job data. Miners reversed early gains while
auto makers rose. []
The euro was down against the dollar but pared earlier
losses and gained against the yen, while sterling also rose
after better-than-expected euro zone [] and UK
services sector data.[]
A poll showed the ailing U.S. economy probably continued to
bleed jobs rapidly in March, driving up the jobless rate at a
high pace. []
(Additional reporting by Fayen Wong in Perth, editing by
Anthony Barker)
