* Oil hits six-month high of $66.47
* Dollar hits five-month low against basket of currencies
* U.S. Q1 GDP revised higher than expected
(Adds detail, updates prices; changes dateline from LONDON))
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, May 29 (Reuters) - Oil rose to a six-month high
above $66 per barrel on Friday, on track for its largest
monthly percentage gain in more than a decade, after U.S.,
Japanese and Indian data suggested the economic downturn may be
easing.
Oil prices have jumped around 30 percent this month, the
largest monthly rise since March 1999, buoyed by expectations
of a global economic recovery later this year which helped push
stock markets higher.
U.S. crude oil for July delivery <CLc1> was up $1.07 at
$66.15 per barrel by 11:20 ET (1620 GMT), after reaching a high
of $66.47, its highest level since early November last year.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> gained 97 cents to $65.36.
The dollar hit a five-month low against a basket of other
currencies. A weak dollar makes oil cheaper for holders of
other currencies and tends to support prices.
Data on Friday showed Japanese industrial production rose
5.2 percent in April on a monthly basis, and the government
said it expected continued gains through June. []
U.S. growth data on Friday also reinforced the sense that
the global economic slump might be abating.
The Commerce Department said the world's largest economy
contracted slightly less than initially estimated in the first
quarter, dropping at a 5.7 percent annual rate, rather than the
6.1 percent fall published by the government last month.
The revision was nevertheless below market expectations for
a 5.5 percent contraction for the January-March quarter.
India's economy grew faster than expected in the first
quarter, helped by strength in farm and services sectors.
[]
"Oil market participants' conclusion that the worst of the
recession has passed and a recovery in demand must be at hand
was bolstered overnight by higher-than-expected first-quarter
growth in India and a sharp jump in Japan's April industrial
production," said Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president at MF Global
in New York.
U.S. INVENTORIES
Another supportive influence was Thursday's report by the
U.S. Energy Information Administration on U.S. crude oil
stocks, which fell 5.4 million barrels in the week to May 22,
way above analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a
700,000 barrel decline. []
Gasoline inventories also fell for the fifth week in a row
as demand rose in the week preceding the Memorial Day holiday,
which traditionally marks the start of the summer driving
season in the United States.
"The market has reacted to the headline figures," said
Harry Tchilinguirian, analyst at BNP Paribas in London. "That
has helped extend technical buying as we moved above the
psychologically important 200-day moving average (MA)."
The front month for U.S. crude oil futures crossed up
through its 200-day MA on its daily price chart on Tuesday and
it is now acting as a strong support, according to technical
analysts who track prices on charts.
OPEC's decision to hold oil production steady also helped
prop up prices. The producer group on Thursday kept its output
targets unchanged as expected, betting on a strengthening world
economy and tentative signs of increased demand.
Analysts said Saudi Arabia's statement this week that the
global economy could now cope with $75-80 a barrel oil was a
shift from the world's largest oil producer, which has until
recently hinted it would be happy with a lower price to help
the world economy back on its feet.
(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons and Gene Ramos in New
York, Christopher Johnson in London, Fayen Wong in Perth;
editing by Jim Marshall)
