* U.S. dollar index climbs on strong housing data
* API data due later in session
(Recasts, updates throughout, changes dateline from
previous LONDON, new byline)
By Rebekah Kebede
NEW YORK, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Oil slipped below $77 a barrel
on Wednesday as a stronger U.S. dollar pressured prices,
outweighing positive U.S. housing and industrial output data.
U.S. crude for March delivery <CLc1> fell 38 cents to
$76.63 a barrel at 11:43 a.m. EST (1643 GMT). It closed 3.9
percent higher on Tuesday, its biggest percentage gain since
Sept. 30 when it rose 5.8 percent.
London Brent crude for April <LCOc1> dropped 15 cents to
$75.53 a barrel.
"That rally yesterday was accomplished very quickly on
rather thin volume. So with the dollar rallying the way it is,
crude just cannot find its legs and we're slipping lower," said
Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition
Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
The greenback rose against a basket of currencies on
Wednesday, boosted by stronger-than-forecast U.S. housing and
industrial output data. The euro fell one percent due to
continued pressure by Greece's fiscal problems. []
U.S. housing starts rebounded more strongly than expected
to their highest in six months in January, while permits fell
slightly less than forecast, a government report showed on
Wednesday.[]
Industrial output rose 0.9 in January, also exceeding
analyst expectations. []
Strength in the U.S. dollar typically pressures oil prices
by discouraging non-U.S. investor interest in
dollar-denominated commodities.
Oil inventory data for the United States, the world's top
oil consumer, will be released later on Wednesday and on
Thursday.
The industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) will
issue data at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) on Wednesday -- delayed
one day due to a holiday -- while the Energy Information
Administration's (EIA) data is due at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) on
Thursday.
Crude inventories in the United States were expected to
have risen by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 12, as
imports that had been delayed by weather along the Gulf Coast
came ashore, according to a preliminary Reuters poll of
analysts on Tuesday. []
Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel,
fell by 1.6 million barrels, with demand for heating fuel seen
higher after two heavy snowstorms hit the U.S. East Coast.
Gasoline supplies rose by 1.6 million barrels, the poll
showed.
(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons and Gene Ramos in
New York, Chris Baldwin in London, Seng Li Peng in Singapore;
Editing by Carole Vaporean)
