* U.S. Q4 GDP revised up to 5.9 percent
* Stronger equities help fuel the rally
* $80 seen as top of current range
(Updates prices, stock market activity in paragraph 3)
By Emma Farge
LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Oil jumped 2 percent to near $80
a barrel on Friday as an upwards revision in U.S. gross
domestic product for the fourth quarter helped revive
lackluster sentiment.
The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought at 5.9
percent versus 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter, a government
report showed on Friday, raising expectations of higher fuel
demand growth in the world's top energy consumer.
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Further support came as U.S. stocks turned positive and the
S&P 500 briefly hit a session high as the U.S. dollar slipped
after a report that a German bank may buy Greek debt as an
emergency measure. []
U.S. crude for April delivery <CLc1> rose $1.58 to $79.75 a
barrel by 11:43 a.m. EST (1643 GMT) after falling $1.83 on
Thursday. ICE Brent crude for April <LC0c1> traded up $1.32 to
$77.61 a barrel.
"The GDP number was positive and the crude market was
getting a little oversold yesterday. Even with the terrible
economic news earlier in the week -- consumer confidence,
housing stuff -- equities have been quite resilient," said
senior market strategist Richard Ilczyszyn at Lind-Waldock.
Oil markets have looked to equities and the broader economy
for signs of a potential demand rebound as the world economy
pulls out of recession.
Doubts over the pace of the global recovery and fears that
demand has peaked from industrialized nations have tempered
optimism in oil markets, with the International Energy Agency
(IEA) saying there is more downside risk to demand than upside.
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$80 CEILING
Prices have traded in a range between $69 and $84 a barrel
since last October, but $80 a barrel is being reinforced as a
key resistance level, analysts said.
Prices edged over $80 a barrel to hit a six-week high of
$80.51 a barrel on Monday but have since retreated. "We are in
a broad range and the top is around $80 a barrel," said oil
trader Christopher Bellew at Bache Financial.
While some analysts thought snowstorms on the East Coast of
the United States could boost heating demand and set a price
floor, others said that weather was now a peripheral factor
because of high stocks.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose more than expected last week
by 3 million barrels to reach a total of 337.5 million barrels
in the week ending Feb. 19, data from the U.S. Energy
Information Administration showed on Wednesday. []
Ample supplies have also lessened the market impact of
geopolitical tensions over OPEC member Iran's uranium
enrichment programme, analysts said.
Israel lobbied the United States on Thursday to promote
"crippling" sanctions against Iran to curb its nuclear
programme, but the Obama administration said it did not want to
hurt the Iranian people. []
The market shrugged off a rise in the dollar versus the
euro on Friday. A stronger dollar tends to weigh on oil as it
makes it more expensive for holders of other currencies.
[]
For a graphic on the oil-dollar correlation, click on:
http://link.reuters.com/vuf82j
(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons in New York and Seng
Li Peng in Singapore)
