(Fixes tag in headline)
* China exports jump 48.5 pct, in line with Wednesday
report
* For a technical view, click: []
* Coming Up: IEA monthly oil market report; 0800 GMT
(Recasts with gain, adds comments, floating storage graphic)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, June 10 (Reuters) - Oil reversed losses on
Thursday, rebounding towards $75 as confirmation of strong
Chinese overall exports in May outweighed weaker demand
readings in top consumer the United States.
China's exports rose 48.5 percent in May from a year
earlier, beating forecasts of a 32 percent gain and confirming
a Reuters report on Wednesday on the export figure which helped
send oil up more than 3 percent the previous day.
U.S. crude for July <CLc1> rose as much as 35 cents to
$74.73 a barrel and was up 14 cents at $74.52 a barrel at 0532
GMT, after trading as low as $73.72 before the exports data
came out.
ICE Brent <LCOc1> gained 2 cents to $74.29.
China will release May industrial production data on
Friday, forecast at 17.1 percent in a Reuters survey, down from
a 17.8 percent gain in April. As in the case of exports,
investors will look for evidence that the economy of the
world's second-largest oil user keeps roaring ahead.
"If we continue to see a follow through in the data
tomorrow, that will be the litmus paper test to show that China
is with us and that growth remains robust," said Jonathan
Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in
Sydney.
Asian stocks extended gains on Thursday on China's strong
export data, which investors hope will ease fears about a
slowdown in Europe. []
Still, some economists questioned whether China's momentum
could be sustained given debt problems in Europe, the country's
biggest overseas market.
CHINA MAY INCREASE OIL IMPORTS
But several said it would revive the debate about the
timing of a long-awaited resumption in the appreciation of the
Chinese currency, which if it happened would boost China's
purchasing power for dollar-denominated oil. []
China's May crude oil imports rose 4.3 percent from a year
ago, but were sharply off the record high hit in April.
[]
U.S. crude has recovered almost $10 from below $65 on May
20, but is still down 15 percent from a 19-month peak on May 3.
"The risk is to the topside," Barratt said. "Europe remains
sluggish, but the market has decided that it has been taken
care of. There are contingency plans."
Finance ministers from the debt-stricken eurozone sought to
restore financial market confidence earlier this week by
agreeing how to deploy a vast anti-contagion programme if
needed by struggling members. []
U.S. crude inventories last week dropped a
larger-than-expected 1.8 million barrels, the Energy
Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday. []
That was the same amount by which stockpiles of distillates
including heating oil and diesel increased as distillate demand
slowed, showing a gain of 9.3 percent in the four weeks ended
June 4, compared to 17 percent in the four weeks to May 28.
U.S. gasoline supplies were little changed last week, the
EIA said.
"Refiners ran more crude, which was bullish," said Mike
Wittner, head of oil research at Societe Generale in London, in
a note to clients.
"However, this put downward pressure on an already well
supplied distillate market. Weekly distillate demand ran out of
steam and couldn't absorb the growing supply."
For a graphic showing the evolution of global crude and oil
products in floating storage:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/10/OIL_FLTS0610.gif
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
