* Strong equities performance lift crude prices
* Egypt's turmoil persists, but Suez Canal stays open
* Coming up: EIA petroleum inventory report, 1530 GMT
By Seng Li Peng
SINGAPORE, Feb 9 (Reuters) - U.S. oil climbed above $87.20 a
barrel on Wednesday, led by strong performances in the global
stock markets and a surprise draw down in crude inventories in
the world's top oil consumer.
U.S. crude for March rose 33 cents to $87.27 a barrel
at 0300 GMT, while ICE Brent was up 21 cents to $100.13
a barrel, with the spread between the two grades hitting a new
record high at $12.86 a barrel.
Shares in Asian developed markets rose as investors bet that
China's latest interest rate rise would not derail hopes of a
sustained economic recovery.
China raised interest rates by 25 basis points late on
Tuesday, its second increase in just over six weeks.
The timing was unexpected, coming on the final day of the
Lunar New Year holiday, but investors have long expected more
monetary tightening as Beijing struggles to rein in price
pressures.
Japan's Nikkei average rose for a fourth day in a
row on Wednesday and hit a fresh nine-month high. Australia's
benchmark index was also up 0.3 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average notched a seventh
straight day of gains on Tuesday, rising 0.6 percent, as
surprisingly strong sales by McDonald's boosted optimism about
consumer spending.
"The crude oil market is now held up by the bullish stock
market, rather than geopolitical reasons," said Benson Wang of
Commodity Broking Services in Sydney.
"The Egyptian unrest had pushed the market up in the last 15
days, but I think people's reaction towards that is now calmer,
and the effects on oil prices are reducing."
"But going forward, upside on crude oil prices is limited.
If I have to make a call, I think we have seen crude oil prices
at their highest for this year."
Egyptians staged one of their biggest protests yet on
Tuesday demanding President Hosni Mubarak step down now, their
wrath undiminished by the vice president's announcement of a
plan to transfer power.
While the government refuses to budge on the demonstrators'
main demands, Vice President Omar Suleiman promised there would
be no reprisals against the protesters for their three-week-old
campaign to eject Mubarak, 82, after 30 years in office.
Adding to the turmoil was a strike staged by about 3,000
workers in companies owned by the Canal authorities and based in
Ismailia and Suez over pay and conditions.
But the strikes will not affect Suez Canal operations and
movement of ships, a senior official said. ID:nWEB7527]
In Colombia, a 48,000 barrels-per-day capacity Transandino
oil pipeline has been halted by two suspected rebel bomb
attacks, but exports have not been affected, state-run Ecopetrol
said on Tuesday.
BULLISH DATA MAY NOT BE ENOUGH
U.S. crude stocks unexpectedly fell 558,000 barrels last
week on sharply lower imports, the American Petroleum Institute
(API) said on Tuesday. This contrasted expectations from
analysts polled by Reuters who had expected a 2.4 million-barrel
rise in crude stocks.
Crude imports fell 1.1 million barrels a day (bpd) to 8.65
million bpd, while crude stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, the
delivery point for U.S. oil futures, fell by 927,000 barrels,
API said.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said more
supply will be needed as the world will consume about 140,000
bpd more in oil than it had forecast last month, with demand now
expected to average a record 88.16 million barrels per day this
year.
But it added that Saudi Arabia was pumping more crude than
previously thought, about 100,000 barrels per day extra during
both November and December.
(Reporting by Seng Li Peng)
