* Awaits U.S. government oil inventory data
* Lingering weak dollar provides support
* Strong Chinese trade data underpins prices
(Updates prices, adds quotes from Aramco)
By Felicia Loo
SINGAPORE, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Oil held steady above $79 a
barrel on Thursday as the dollar held near 15-month lows
against a basket of currencies, while investors waited for U.S.
government oil data for direction before taking more positions.
Rising Asian shares and gold's surge to a record high also
helped to prevent a fall in prices despite expectations of a
rise in crude stockpiles in the world's biggest energy
consumer.
"The market is adopting a wait-and-see attitude. Certainly
the market looks to be overly overbought and what's holding it
up is the continuing weak dollar," said Mark Pervan, senior
commodities analysts at ANZ.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration data, delayed by
a day because of the Veteran's Day holiday, is expected to show
a 600,000-barrel increase in crude stockpiles in the world's
top energy user. []
U.S crude futures <CLc1> dipped 7 cents to $79.21 a barrel
by 0506 GMT, after closing 23 cents higher on Wednesday. Brent
crude futures <LCOc1> dropped a cent to $77.94 a barrel.
The market has gained 77 percent so far this year but is
still about 46 percent below the record high of more than $147
a barrel it hit in July last year.
Pervan also noted there was "reasonably strong demand from
China, as seen in the strong trade data".
Chinese crude imports hit the second-highest level in
October, signalling that oil demand continues a gradual revival
from a sharp slowdown in late 2008 and early this year.
[]
The Financial Times quoted Khalid al-Falih, Chief Executive
of Saudi Aramco, as saying that world oil demand could rise at
a "reasonable pace" as the global economy recovers and oil
prices in the "$70s" a barrel were in a healthy range.
[]
Data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute
released late on Tuesday showed a bigger-than-expected increase
in U.S. crude oil stockpiles, up by 1.2 million barrels in the
week to Nov. 6. []
In Europe, crude oil inventories rose in October as
refiners curbed operation rates amid shrinking demand.
[] Also backing prices was a weak dollar <.DXY>,
which hovered just above a 15-month low after the Australian
dollar jumped on strong jobs data. []
Asian equities rose for a fifth straight day, though gains
were modest. Both the MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded
outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> and the Nikkei <> were up
around 0.4 percent.
Gold <XAU=> shot up to another record at $1,121.60 an ounce
on Thursday as a weaker U.S. dollar lifted its appeal as an
alternative investment to currencies. Bullion has now renewed
record highs for six of the past eight sessions.
A string of speeches on Tuesday by officials of the Fed --
the U.S. central bank -- reinforced the view that U.S. interest
rates will remain near zero for the foreseeable future,
increasing the appeal of higher-yielding assets.
[].
Although OPEC raised its forecast for world oil demand
growth slightly, the oil cartel said fuel consumption might not
return to levels seen before the global economic slowdown, even
if growth recovers.
In its monthly report on Wednesday, OPEC said 2010 oil
demand growth would be 750,000 bpd, compared with its previous
projection of 700,000 last month. []
Oil companies were also quickly restoring Gulf of Mexico
production shut by Tropical Storm Ida, the U.S. Minerals
Management Service said. []
(Editing by Sambit Mohanty)
