* Oil edges down towards $71 a barrel after 6-week high
* Prices headed for fourth week of gains but downside seen
* Awaits U.S. July unemployment data
* U.S. Federal Trade Commission to crack down on fraud
By Maryelle Demongeot
SINGAPORE, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Oil edged down on Friday from
a six-week high in the previous session, as markets awaited
U.S. July employment data later on Friday, a major indicator of
how well the U.S. economy is doing pulling out of recession.
Oil prices are heading for a fourth straight week of gains
as an improvement in the economic mood boosts riskier assets
and knocks the dollar, but with high crude inventories showing
demand remains weak, investors will want to see further signs
that economic growth is returning.
Stock markets, which have been closely correlated with oil
recently, fell on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei <> index
down more than 1 percent as investors locked in profits ahead
of U.S. jobs data. []
U.S. light crude for September delivery <CLc1> fell 32
cents a barrel to $71.62 by 0222 GMT, having settled 3 cents
down at $71.94 on Thursday, when lower U.S. stocks and a
stronger U.S. dollar took prices off a six-week high of $72.42.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell 27 cents to $74.56.
"It is economic data that is pushing the market up but
demand is not so huge at the moment. Oil prices are too high
from a fundamentals point of view," said Ken Hasegawa,
commodity derivatives sales manager at broker Newedge in Tokyo.
The U.S. economy is expected to have lost 320,000 nonfarm
payroll jobs in July, a hefty number but still an improvement
over last month's drop of 467,000, while the unemployment rate
is expected to have risen to 9.6 percent. []
Data will be released at 1230 GMT.
A better-than-expected weekly U.S. jobless claims report on
Thursday failed to dampen concerns about the July jobs report.
[]
Oil has more than doubled since the low $30s of this
winter, having plunged there from a record near $150 in July
2008, but prices have yet to retrace a 2009 high of $73.38 hit
on June 30 as U.S. inventories and crude in floating storage
remain high.
U.S. crude stocks rose by a larger-than-expected 1.7
million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information
Administration, leaving them a hefty 54.3 million barrels above
year-ago levels. []
Frontline <FRO.OL>, the world's biggest independent oil
tanker shipping group, said on Thursday around 50 very large
crude carriers (VLCCs) were storing crude oil, particularly in
the U.S. Gulf and off Europe, amounting to about 100 million
barrels. []
Risks to the oil market from increased regulation were
given teeth on Thursday when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
said it would fine traders and companies up to $1 million a day
if they manipulate oil markets. []
"We continue to see sizeable risks to the downside for
crude in the near-term as weaker demand for crude will add to
already weak fundamentals for the complex," said JP Morgan
analysts in a weekly oil report.
"That said, our longer-term outlook is considerably more
positive as the expected boost in demand for the second half of
the year will begin to cut back on commercial inventories
around the world."
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
