* OPEC ministers signal output quotas to remain unchanged
* Technicals price retracing to about $75 []
* Coming Up: U.S. Midwest manufacturing, Aug; 1600 GMT
(Updates prices, markets throughout)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, Sept. 27 (Reuters) - Oil was steady on Monday,
trading close to a two-week high near $77 reached earlier, as
energy and commodities regained the favour of investors with a
weaker dollar, rising equities and resurfacing risk appetite.
U.S. crude for November delivery <CLc1> rose 13 cents to
$76.62 a barrel at 0539 GMT after earlier touching $76.85, the
highest price since Sept. 14. On Friday it jumped more than 1.7
percent, capping the strongest weekly gain since July. ICE
Brent for November <LCOc1> was unchanged at $78.87.
"The dollar has set a weaker tone and that's going to be
supportive for oil prices," said Mark Pervan, a senior
commodities analyst at ANZ in Melbourne, referring to the
greenback's drop to a five-month low against the euro on
Monday.
"When you look at CFTC positions, there have been more
shorts, so there was potentially some short-covering too,"
Pervan said.
Money managers cut net-long crude oil positions on the New
York Mercantile Exchange to less than 97,000 in the week
through Sept. 21 from almost 114,000 a week earlier, the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday.
[]
That means the number of people betting for higher prices
decreased over the period, and the turnaround in prices at the
end of last week on the back of positive economic data created
incentives to revert those positions.
"The market is taking the durable goods data as a catalyst
to buy," Pervan said.
New orders for a wide range of long-lasting U.S.
manufactured goods rose in August and business spending plans
rebounded strongly, separate reports showed on Friday, the
latest sign a sharp summer slowdown in the economy was abating.
BULLISH TECHNICALS
A flip in the 50-day moving average for November U.S. crude
above its 100-day moving average in the next two days would be
a signal to buy, which could send prices close to $80 a barrel,
Pervan said.
For a graphic of oil's moving averages:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/AS/0810/ABE_20102709103823.j
pg Other data on Friday showing new home sales were flat
last
month underscored the many obstacles to the recovery.
Still, the durable goods report diminished concerns of a
double-dip recession and implied a modest pick-up in output.
[]
Venezuela is comfortable with global oil prices and will
call for current production levels to be maintained at an
Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting in
Vienna on Oct. 14, the country's oil minister Rafael Ramirez
said on Sunday. []
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah on
Saturday also said the group would leave quotas steady.
[]
OPEC has left its output ceiling unchanged for almost two
years since announcing a record supply curb of 4.2 million
barrels per day in December 2008 to combat lower demand and
prices. OPEC complied with 53 percent of that reduction in
August, according to a Reuters survey. []
Weather continues to be a focus for the oil market, though
tropical depression Matthew which sparked floods and knocked
over trees across Central America and southern Mexico on
Sunday, threatening waterlogged sugar and coffee farms, spared
Mexican oil installations. []
Asian stocks rose on Monday to their highest in more than
two years in response to optimism on the U.S. economy. []
Global stocks jumped and the dollar slid on Friday as
economic data both raised hopes the recovery is improving and
bolstered speculation the Federal Reserve will boost money
supply. []
Under quantitative easing, central banks flood the banking
system with masses of money to promote lending. They usually do
this when lowering official interest rates no longer is
effective because they already are at or near zero.
Friday's rally lifted Wall Street to a fourth consecutive
week of gains.
