* U.S. retail sales growth slows
* Dollar index bounces
* Coming up: API oil data at 4:30 p.m. EST Tuesday
(Recasts, updates prices and market activity, changes byline
and moves dateline from previous LONDON)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday,
giving back early gains as the dollar briefly turned higher and
equities slipped on mixed economic data.
Brent crude felt more pressure as traders eyed the gap
between the two benchmarks.
The dollar index <.DXY> bounced off lows after its earlier
weakness helped boost oil prices. The euro held on to some
gains against the dollar.
Concerns about ongoing Middle East protests and
lower-than-feared Chinese inflation also had supported oil
prices earlier on Tuesday.
Brent crude <LCOc1> fell 93 cents to $102.15 a barrel at
12:24 p.m. EST (1724 GMT).
U.S. crude <CLc1> fell 47 cents to $84.34 a barrel.
"I see the dollar's move up from earlier lows pulling down
NYMEX crude futures," said Chris Dillman, analyst at Tradition
Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
Brent's premium to U.S. crude <CL-LCO1=R> seesawed between
$13.24 and $14.90 on Tuesday. Brent's premium to U.S. crude
surged to a record above $16 a barrel on Friday, still
measuring the two March contracts before the March Brent's
expiration.
"That Brent/WTI spread may be getting a little heavy and
the focus seems to be on that and less on the data and news
today," said Richard Ilczyszyn, senior market strategist at
Lind-Waldock in Chicago.
Middle East unrest and the potential for supply disruption
remained a concern as police and protesters clashed in Bahrain.
Iranian lawmakers urged death penalties for opposition leaders
and hundreds of demonstrators and government loyalists fought
in the Yemeni capital. [] []
[]
"We are seeing contagion from Tunisia and Egypt to other
countries that are more important for the oil markets," said
Christophe Barret, oil analyst at Credit Agricole Corporate and
Investment Bank.
CHINESE INFLATION
China's consumer price inflation came in lower than
expected for January at 4.9 percent. A Reuters poll had
forecast 5.3 percent. []
But core inflation in the world's second largest oil
consumer, stripped of volatile food prices, jumped to 2.6
percent year on year, the highest since at least 2002 and up
from 2.1 percent a month earlier.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For a graphic on Chinese inflation click:
http://link.reuters.com/zan97r
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MIXED U.S. ECONOMIC DATA
U.S. stocks slid as a smaller-than-expected rise in retail
sales raised doubts about a rebound in consumer spending, a
vital part of an economic recovery. []
Early on Tuesday, some brokers and analysts pointed to
supportive data like the New York Federal Reserve's gauge of
manufacturing in New York State which climbed in February to
its best mark since June. []
U.S. retail sales growth slowed in January, but at least
some oil traders and analysts saw the data as supportive or
neutral considering the extreme weather that curbed shopping
traffic.
(Additional reporting by Claire Milhench in London, Jennifer
Tan in Singapore and Gene Ramos in New York; editing by Jim
Marshall)
