* U.S. dollar index falls as euro strengthens
* China's crude imports surge in March, data show
* Coming up: IEA monthly Oil Market Report due Tues
(Updates prices, recasts, adds quote, inventory poll)
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, April 12 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell toward $84 a
barrel in seesaw trade on Monday, as high U.S. inventories
outweighed early support from strong Chinese crude imports and
a weak dollar.
U.S. oil for May delivery <CLc1> fell 58 cents to settle at
$84.34 a barrel, after earlier rising to $85.71 a barrel.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell 6 cents to settle at $84.77,
moving to a premium above U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude,
also known as WTI, for the first time in months.
The euro rose to its highest level against the dollar in
nearly a month on Monday on the Euro zone's plans to aid
Greece, which provided early support for crude. But gains
eroded as investors questioned whether current prices were
justified, given the fundamentals.
"Initial enthusiasm for the plan to help Greece did not
increase oil demand. The larger view must be that the sentiment
pendulum has shifted at least temporarily back towards
skepticism about whether demand has recovered enough to support
current prices," said Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president at MF
Global in New York.
U.S. crude oil inventories likely rose last week for the
11th week in a row, on higher imports, a Reuters poll ahead of
week inventory reports showed on Monday. []
Crude stockpiles were seen up by 1.6 million barrels in the
week to April 9, according to the preliminary poll of 10
analysts. Distillate stocks were expected to show a 1.0 million
barrel build while gasoline stocks were anticipated to have
fallen 700,000 barrels.
Chinese crude imports jumped 13.8 percent from the previous
month and reached 4.95 million barrels a day, preliminary data
released by the General Administration of Customs showed.
[]
"The weaker dollar and strongly bullish Chinese data should
be very positive for oil," said Daniel Briesemann, commodities
analyst at Commerzbank. "Of course fundamentally, these high
oil prices cannot be justified, but based on sentiment, the
market still has room to go up, we think."
Technical chart analysts said the oil market was running
out of upward momentum after a sharp rise in prices at the end
of March and in early April. The pull-back came despite factors
that analysts said were supportive for the market.
TARGET $90?
"International demand ... is having a more positive impact
on Brent than WTI," said Christopher Bellew, broker at Bache
Commodities, commenting on Brent's rise above WTI on Monday.
"U.S. crude oil stocks are high and WTI has its limitations as
an (international) marker price because it is based on a
landlocked crude, well away from the coast."
The last time Brent futures traded consistently above U.S.
crude was in December.
In a sign of upbeat sentiment, open interest positions were
heavier at the NYMEX May $90 call option and the $80 and $75
put options, according to Reuters data on Friday.
[]
Money managers also extended net crude oil long positions
on the New York Mercantile Exchange to a record 186,732 in the
week to April 6, up from 169,478 in the previous week, the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday.
[]
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons in New
York, Fayen Wong in Perth, Christopher Johnson in London;
Editing by Alden Bentley)
