* European markets slip after 4-day rally
* Japan Feb exports, crude imports plunge
* U.S. crude stockpiles likely rose 1.2 mln barrels
(Adds comment, updates prices)
By Chris Baldwin
LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - Oil fell by more than $1 on
Wednesday to below $53 a barrel after weak export data from
Japan and as investors paused to reassess bank clean-up plans,
halting a global equities rally.
Japan, the world's second-largest economy, posted a record
drop in February for exports -- down by 49.4 percent -- as
global demand for Japanese cars and electronics evaporated.
[]
Bearish supply and demand data in the world's largest oil
consumer the United States and in third-largest consumer Japan
also pushed prices lower.
U.S. crude inventories rose last week by 4.6 million barrels
to 345.5 million barrels, data from industry group American
Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday, with imports rising and
refinery utilisation down. []
In Japan, crude oil import volumes fell by 13.9 percent in
February, their lowest tally for the month in 20 years,
preliminary data from Japan's Ministry of Finance showed.
"The Japanese numbers certainly spooked the market," said
Rob Montefusco, a commodities trader at Sucden Financial in
London.
"Crude numbers for the API data were bigger than expected,
and we're looking for the DOE (Department of Energy) numbers
today to be higher. The market is on the back foot at the
moment," he said.
U.S. light crude for May delivery <CLc1> fell $1.28 to
$52.70 a barrel by 1237 GMT, after touching a near three-month
high above $54 on Tuesday.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell $1.33 to $52.16.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration, a branch of the
Department of Energy, will issue its separate weekly report on
nationwide stockpiles on Wednesday. []
CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM
Analysts said an excess of crude supply on world markets
would not disappear soon, as no demand was surfacing to mop up
the excess, and last week's strong rally might have been an
overly earnest response to U.S. government stimulus plans.
"The price rise we saw in the past week was a little early,
a little excessive. There's still not a lot of demand out
there," said Simon Wardell at Global Insight, an oil trading
advisory.
An expanded Reuters poll of 15 analysts on Tuesday showed an
average forecast build of 1.2 million more barrels in the week
to March 20, with gasoline supplies down by 600,000 barrels.
[]
"It's a market not used to 6 million barrels of spare
capacity out there. Today we're getting a bit more gloom from
the American package," said Wardell.
On Wednesday European stocks slipped as a recent rally on
the back of a U.S. plan to purge toxic assets from banks'
balance sheets lost steam and figures showed a deterioration of
German corporate sentiment.[]
On Tuesday night President Barack Obama renewed calls for
leading economies to boost stimulus spending, repair credit
markets and extend aid to poor countries when Group of 20
leaders meet in London on April 2. []
Speaking with cautious optimism on Wednesday, a Chinese
central bank adviser said China, the world's third-largest
economy, was showing signs of improvement.
"Before (the economy) bottoms out, it has to bottom. I
believe it has bottomed, with the stimulus package and signs of
recovery in some industries," said Fan Gang, who sits on the
Chinese central bank's monetary policy advisory committee, in a
Reuters interview in Hong Kong. []
(Additional reporting by Chua Baizhen in Singapore, editing by
Keiron Henderson)
