UPDATE 1-Oil under $44 after 4 pct slump, eyes US jobs data

                                
 * Oil steady, buoyed by China's optimism on economic
rebound
                                
 * Feb jobs data likely to reinforce grim economic outlook
                                
 * Mixed signals from OPEC on supply cut at next meeting
 (Recasts with China, updates prices)
                                
 By Jennifer Tan
                                
 SINGAPORE, March 6 (Reuters) - Oil was steady under $44 on
Friday, after sinking 4 percent overnight on fears that the
deepening financial crisis would further crimp energy demand.
                                
 Prices were supported by China's optimism that its domestic
economy was recovering and official promises of more swift
stimulus action when required.
                                
 Markets will be watching for February U.S. non-farm
payrolls data due later, which will likely show unemployment
surging to a 25-year high in the world's top oil consumer.
                                
 U.S. crude <CLc1> was up 13 cents at $43.74 a barrel by
0830 GMT, and is down 2 percent this week, while London Brent
crude <LCOc1> gained 6 cents to $43.70 a barrel.
                                
 David Moore, commodity strategist with the Commonwealth
Bank of Australia, said the market was likely to tread water
ahead of the jobs data. [ID:nN04539340]
                                
 "A poor result is pretty much factored into market
expectations, and we expect a soft bias for oil prices both
tonight and the early part of next week," Moore said.
                                
 Economic news on Thursday reinforced the grim picture.
                                
 Workers filing new claims for jobless benefits remained
consistent with a severe recession, new orders received by U.S.
factories fell for a sixth straight month in January and a
report showed a record one in eight U.S. mortgages behind on
payments or in foreclosure. [ID:nN04192029] [ID:nN05306148]
                                
 Friday's key non-farm payrolls report is expected to show
the economy shed 648,000 jobs in February, while the
unemployment rate is expected to rise to a 25-year high of 7.9
percent, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
                                
 Asian stocks slid on Friday, after a warning from General
Motors' <GM.N> that it may need to file for bankruptcy drove
Wall Street shares to 12-year lows, highlighting the severe
troubles of major U.S. companies and banks. [MKTS/GLOB]
                                
 Top Chinese officials said on Friday that substantial
fiscal and monetary stimulus was breathing life back into the
world's third-biggest economy hit by crumbling exports,
suggesting Beijing saw no need to boost the existing investment
plan of nearly $600 billion.
                                
 Beijing's quiet confidence stands in contrast to
increasingly gloomy predictions for the United States, the euro
zone, Japan, Britain and other industrial nations, all mired in
the most severe downturns in decades. [ID:nSP480692]
                                
 Oil prices have traded in a narrow band around $40 since
mid-December, pressured by slumping demand from the global
economic downturn, but drawing support from expectations OPEC
might cut production again when it meets on March 15.
                                
 OPEC has agreed to cut production by 4.2 million barrels
per day since September, and a Reuters survey found that
members had already met at least 81 percent of their output
reduction target.
                                
 Angola, which holds the presidency of the 12-member group,
will not advocate further production cuts when the group meets,
but Venezuela, Algeria and Libya have raised the possibility of
a further cut, sources said. [ID:nL496607] [ID:nL4373694]
 (Editing by Ben Tan)