* Dollar broadly weaker, lifts oil
* Equities up on BOJ stimulative moves, supporting oil
* Coming up: API oil inventory data, 4:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity, changes byline and
moves dateline from previous LONDON)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices hit a two-month peak
on Tuesday, lifted by a slumping dollar after the Bank of Japan
cut interest rates and as striking workers combined with a shut
shipping channel disrupted tanker traffic in France and Texas.
The BOJ pledged to pump more funds into the economy and
keep rates virtually at zero [], pressuring the
dollar [] and pushing equities higher on expectations other
central banks will also act to support their economies.
A weaker dollar can boost oil prices because it makes
dollar-denominated oil less expensive for consumers using other
currencies and lowers the value of dollars paid to producers.
U.S. crude for November <CLc1> delivery rose $1.17 or 1.44
percent to $82.64 per barrel by 11:59 a.m. EDT (1559 GMT),
having reached a two-month high at $82.82.
ICE Brent November crude <LCOc1> rose 85 cents or 1.02
percent to $84.13 a barrel.
"The complex is receiving a renewed lift this morning
mainly off of a rebound in the euro and some associated ...
gains in the equities," Jim Ritterbusch, president at
Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois, said in a
research note.
U.S. stocks rose more than 1 percent in a broad rally after
encouraging U.S. services-sector data and with investors
reassured by new steps by Japan and Australia's central banks
to fight economic weakness. []
Growth in the U.S. services sector accelerated more than
forecast last month, while hiring also picked up, a report from
the Institute for Supply Management showed. []
Analysts and brokers also pointed to a lift for oil prices
from shipping disruptions caused by striking French workers and
a downed power line on the Houston Ship Channel.
Strikers at France's top oil port were deadlocked with
management, with about 30 vessels carrying crude and oil
products blocked at Fos-Lavera near the Mediterranean port of
Marseille. []
The strike has trimmed fuel output at six French
refineries, boosting European benchmark gasoline barge prices.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For graphic on refineries supplied from Fos-Lavera;
http://r.reuters.com/zar46p
For a FACTBOX on the Fos-Lavera oil hub:[]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
With refinery crude feedstock expected to be backed out of
strike-hit European refineries, U.S. crude futures rose more
than ICE Brent, narrowing the spread between the recently more
expensive Brent and U.S. benchmark crude to around $1.50 a
barrel <CL-LCO1=R>.
A less open-ended disruption in Texas should end later on
Tuesday when the upper Houston Ship Channel is expected to
reopen after a downed power line shut the waterway on Sunday.
[]
Eleven inbound tankers were waiting to transit the channel,
the U.S. Coast Guard said.
OIL INVENTORIES
Oil traders awaited the week's reports on U.S. oil
inventories. A Reuters survey of analysts on Monday forecast
U.S. crude stocks up 600,000 barrels in the week to Oct. 1,
with gasoline stocks seen up just 100,000 barrels. []
Supplies of distillates, including heating oil and diesel
fuel, were projected to have declined by 800,000 barrels.
Industry group the American Petroleum Institute will issue
its weekly inventory report on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030
GMT), followed by the U.S. Energy Information Administration's
report on Wednesday morning.
(Additional reporting by Christopher Johnson in London and
Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore; Editing by Dale Hudson)
