* Oil rises above $70 on technical rebound
* Market seeks direction, eyes Fed rates meet and G20
summit
* China Aug gasoline exports surge to 2-1/2-yr high
(Updates prices, analyst's comments, Asian share performance)
By Fayen Wong
PERTH, Australia, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Oil rose above $70 a
barrel on Tuesday in a technical rebound after its 3.2 percent
decline in the previous session, as traders watch for clues to
the health of the global economy from a U.S. Federal Reserve
meeting and a summit of G20 nations this week.
Oil's Monday fall followed a re-emergence of demand growth
uncertainty in the wake of bearish comments from Asia's top oil
refiner, Sinopec, that China's diesel demand remained
depressed, while the International Energy Agency said world
power output was likely to drop this year for the first time
since 1945.
U.S. crude for October delivery <CLc1> rose 72 cents to
$70.43 a barrel by 0822 GMT. The contract settled down $2.33 at
$69.71 a barrel on Monday.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> gained 62 cents to $69.31.
"Its more of a technical rebound. There's no real news
supporting oil's gains and its still very much trading
sideways," said Clarence Chu, a Singapore-based trader with
Hudson Capital Energy.
A more buoyant mood, helped by gains in the equities
markets, may also have supported oil prices, analysts said.
Asian shares edged higher on Tuesday, helped by gains in
South Korean technology shares, while European stock futures
<STXEc1> were up 0.9 percent and U.S. equity futures <SPc1>
were nearly 0.7 percent higher. []
Still, oil prices have largely been trading in the range of
$67 to $73 in the third quarter and were unlikely to breakout
without news of a substantial supply disruption or new evidence
of a major recovery in energy demand, said John Vautrain, an
analyst at Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
Oil prices have doubled from their December lows of around
$32 a barrel and struck a 2009 high of $75 a barrel in August,
thanks to cross-asset ebullience following a stream of positive
economic data.
But most analysts agree the fundamentals of supply and
demand are still weak and most of the market optimism about a
global recovery in energy demand has already been priced in.
China's gasoline exports jumped to their highest since
early 2007 and diesel sales remained unexpectedly strong last
month, data showed on Tuesday, fuelling concern that domestic
demand in the world's No. 2 consumer is failing to keep up with
record refinery production. []
Analysts said the market will now keep a close watch on
comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting and the G20
summit for hints to the pace of the recovery.
The U.S. Federal Reserve begins a two-day monetary policy
meeting on Tuesday and while it is likely to hold interest
rates, markets will be watching for any comments indicating the
Fed might wind back its super-accommodative policy stance in
view of improving economic data. Such a move would boost the
dollar, analysts said.
The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday raised its estimate
of 2009 average growth in developing Asian economies to 3.9
percent from its March forecast of 3.4 percent, saying Asia had
proved to be more resilient than expected to the global
financial crisis. []
(Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
