* China exports jump 48.5 pct in May, boosts oil, equities
* IEA raises oil demand growth forecast for 2010
* Coming up: Retail sales, consumer sentiment data Friday
(Updates with settlement prices, market activity)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices climbed 1.48
percent on Thursday to end at a four-week high above $75 a
barrel on strong Chinese export data and the International
Energy Agency's raised global oil demand forecast.
U.S. and global equities rose and the dollar and gold fell
after the Chinese data helped ease worries about a slowdown in
Europe and revived investors' risk appetite. [] []
"Risk appetite is creeping back into the markets," said
Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
U.S. crude for July <CLc1> rose $1.10, or 1.48 percent, to
settle at $75.48 a barrel, a third straight increase and
highest since ending at $75.65 on May 12.
ICE Brent <LCOc1> rose $1.02, or 1.37 percent, to settle
at $75.29, a fourth consecutive higher close.
"...(M)omentum within the oil complex has taken a decided
shift to the upside this week, a development that has quelled
but not eliminated the fund liquidation process that typified
most of last month's trade," Jim Ritterbusch, president at
Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a research note.
China's exports jumped 48.5 percent in May from a year
earlier, beating forecasts of a 32 percent gain and confirming
a Reuters Wednesday report, which helped send oil up more than
3 percent. []
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Graphic showing oil products in floating storage
http://link.reuters.com/kab49k
Graphic showing crude stored in Cushing, Oklahoma
http://link.reuters.com/mys82k
Reuters Insider show on IEA's David Fyfe
http://link.reuters.com/pub29k
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The Paris-based IEA revised up its estimate of 2010 global
oil demand growth this year due to increased fuel use in the
United States and on higher Chinese consumption. []
The IEA raised its global oil demand growth forecast for
2010 by 70,000 barrels per day to 1.68 million bpd, saying oil
demand this year would hit 86.44 million bpd, up from 84.76
million bpd in 2009.
David Fyfe, head of the IEA's Oil Industry and Markets
Division, said the upward revision was a response to further
signs of a recovery in economic activity.
"The demand revision was quite a minor one, but it was
based on stronger demand for middle distillates in the United
States," Fyfe said.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration and OPEC monthly reports lowered their 2010
demand growth forecasts slightly.
OPEC also is expected to keep exporting at healthy levels.
Seaborne oil exports by OPEC, excluding Angola and Ecuador,
will rise by 90,000 bpd in the four weeks to June 26,
consultancy Oil Movements said on Thursday. []
Oil futures prices jumped 3.3 percent on Wednesday after
EIA data showed U.S. crude stocks last week dropped a
larger-than-expected 1.8 million barrels. []
Oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, crude oil hub and
delivery point for benchmark U.S. crude rose 111,186 barrels in
the week to June 8, to a record 40 million barrels, data from
energy industry data provider Genscape said on Thursday.
[]
The EIA pegged Cushing stocks down 500,000 barrels to 37.4
million barrels in the week to June 4. Weaker front-month crude
futures prices versus months further out <CL-1=R> have been an
incentive to buy crude and store it to sell later at higher
prices.
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Christopher
Johnson in London, Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore)
