UPDATE 1-Oil steady near 2-mth high on U.S. monetary easing hope

                                
 * Houston ship channel closed after accident
                                
 * Technicals show rally may stop around $82 [ID:nSGE69300G]
                                
 * Coming Up: U.S. durable goods orders for Aug; 1400 GMT
  (Adds NYMEX positions, heating oil strength, updates prices)
                                
 By Alejandro Barbajosa
                                
 SINGAPORE, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Oil was steady on Monday after
earlier touching a two-month high near $82 on expectations that
the slow pace of the U.S. economic recovery will prompt a
monetary boost that would spur energy consumption.
                                
 November U.S. crude <CLc1> fell 1 cents $81.57 a barrel at
0423 GMT, after touching $81.87 earlier, the highest price
since Aug. 6. ICE Brent <LCOc1> was unchanged at $83.75.
                                
 U.S. manufacturing growth slowed last month and inflation
remained subdued in August, leaving the door open for the
Federal Reserve to launch a fresh round of monetary policy
easing. [ID:nN01186494]
                                
 How fast that happens will depend on economic indicators to
be released before the Fed's next policy meeting on Nov. 2-3.
Markets await durable goods orders for August on Monday and
monthly non-farm payrolls on Friday.
                                
 "For the oil markets, putting a floor under inflation
expectations and easing concerns about deflation is important
and constructive-to-bullish for prices," said Mike Wittner,
Societe Generale's head of oil market research.
                                
 Attention "will be intensely focused on next Friday's U.S.
labor report, and the price reaction could be volatile."
                                
 The dollar hit a six-month low versus the euro and global
stocks edged higher on Friday after Federal Reserve officials
said more must be done to lift the slow-growing U.S. economy.
[ID:MKTS/GLOB]
                                
 Oil becomes relatively cheaper for buyers outside the U.S.
when the the greenback weakens. But a stronger dollar against a
basket of currencies, up 0.15 percent on Monday, capped oil's
gains. <.DXY>
                                
 Asian stocks shot to a two-year high on Monday, helped by
emerging market funds. [MKTS/GLOB]
                                
 U.S. economic data on Friday showed both consumer and
construction spending rose more than expected in August, but
investment in private projects fell to its lowest level in more
than 12 years.
                                
 TIGHTENING MARKETS
                                
 The Houston Ship Channel, the main waterway through which
crude flows into the Texas refining hub, may be closed for
three days after a barge struck a highline electrical tower on
Sunday, downing a power line stretching across the waterway to
the busiest U.S. petrochemical port, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
[ID:nN03278832]
                                
 The premium of U.S. heating oil over gasoline reached its
widest level since January 2009 on Friday, supported by rising
demand, large exports of distillate fuels and the approach of
the Northern Hemisphere winter. [ID:nN01213871]
                                
 "The recent strength in the gasoil anb heating oil cracks
has been due to a variety of reasons that have tightened up
prompt availabilities of physical gasoil," Wittner said.
                                
 "As a result, for the time being, this key part of the
barrel is providing some fundamental leadership to the oil
complex."
                                
 The International Energy Agency said on Friday it
anticipated upward pressure on oil prices in the second half of
2011 due to a projected decline in oil stocks. [ID:nLDE690113]
                                
 Investors are also betting on tighter market conditions in
the shorter term, reflecting greater interest for commodities
as prices climb.
                                
 Money managers raised net long crude oil positions to more
than 107,000 on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the week
through Sept. 28 from less than 97,000 a week earlier, the U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday.
[ID:nN01TR]
                                
 And open interest on call options to buy U.S. crude for
November 2010 at $85 a barrel jumped to almost 12,500 lots from
less than 7,200. [ID:nN24669565]
                                
 In other news, the United States and Britain warned their
citizens on Sunday of an increased risk of terrorist attacks in
Europe, with Washington saying al Qaeda might target transport
infrastructure.
                                
 Western intelligence sources said militants in hide-outs in
northwest Pakistan had been plotting coordinated attacks on
European cities, the plans apparently surviving setbacks from a
September surge in drone strikes and an arrest.
[ID:nLDE6920E7]
 (Editing by Ed Lane)