* Greek aid package increases risk appetite
* Greenback stronger while Wall Street climbs
* Market awaits direction from govt inventory data
(Recasts, updates prices and market activity)
By Rebekah Kebede
NEW YORK, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose 1 percent to
above $75 a barrel on Thursday as a pledge by European leaders
to support Greece sparked investor interest in riskier assets.
U.S. crude for March delivery <CLc1> settled at $75.28 a
barrel, up 76 cents. In London, Brent crude <LCOc1> settled at
$73.05 a barrel, up 51 cents.
"We posted our fourth consecutive day of gains and it looks
like last week's slide, based on the fears of what was going on
in Europe, seems to be kind of abating slowly and today, we got
a boost from better than expected jobless claims," said Gene
McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford,
Connecticut.
Crude oil has posted a total of $4.09 or 5.7 percent in
gains so far this week, the longest period of gains since Dec.
22 through Jan. 6, a 10-day period of gains when oil climbed
$10.71 or 14.8 percent.
EU President Herman Van Rompuy announced an unprecedented
deal to stave off a broader crisis in the 16-nation euro bloc
on Thursday.
But markets remained concerned about whether the aid would
be enough to pull Greece out of fiscal crisis, and the euro
slipped against the U.S. dollar.[]
Stocks on Wall Street climbed, supported by European
support for Greece as well as data showing that initial U.S.
jobless claims fell more than expected last week. []
Commodities also rose broadly on the news about the Greek
aid package. Copper hit a two-week high and gold rose more than
1 percent. []
The Reuters-Jefferies CRB commodities index <.CRB>, which,
tracks the 19 most U.S.-traded futures markets, rose to a
one-week high by 1900 GMT, up more than 1 percent.
DELAYED INVENTORY DATA
The oil market's focus on Wall Street and the dollar may
have been due, in part, to a delay in the U.S. weekly inventory
data from the Energy Information Administration, which traders
scour for clues on demand in the world's top oil user.
"Part of the problem is very simple here. We have not had
the Department of Energy (inventory data) out this week yet ...
and, as a result, what we're seeing here is a lot of using the
dollar and equities as a surrogate for oil information," he
said.
Weekly EIA data, normally released on Wednesday, was
delayed until Friday due to snow in Washington. []
A report from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday
showed crude inventories jumped by 7.2 million barrels to 337.6
million last week, against expectations of a rise of 1.5
million, and despite a drop in crude imports and weekly crude
runs.
Gasoline inventories also rose more than expected, climbing
1.6 million barrels to 228.8 million, exceeding analyst
estimates of a 500,000-barrel build. []
Data from the International Energy Agency's forecast for
global oil demand growth for 2010 was also supportive, with the
group raising its estimate by 120,000 barrels per day to 1.6
million bpd. []
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons in New
York, Christopher Johnson in London, Jennifer Tan in Singapore;
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
