* Oil touches $87.09, continues 6-day rally
* Oil price hits highest level since October, 2008
* Coming Up: U.S. oil inventory reports from API
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity; new byline,
changes dateline, previously LONDON)
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, April 6 (Reuters) - Oil inched up toward $87 a
barrel on Tuesday, rallying for a sixth consecutive session, as
recent positive economic data launched futures to 2010 peaks.
Investors were cautious about bidding prices much higher,
though, as they awaited weekly U.S. oil inventory data later on
Tuesday, and as a stronger dollar weighed.
U.S. crude for May delivery <CLc1> rose 19 cents to $86.81
a barrel by 12:15 EDT (1615 GMT), after hitting $87.09, the
highest since October 2008. In London, ICE Brent <LCOc1> rose
22 cents to $86.10.
"While we have yet to see truly positive numbers on the oil
supply-demand side, the figures for the economy are picking up
the slack," Peter Beutel, analyst at Cameron Hanover in New
Canaan, Connecticut, said in a note.
Oil prices rose more than 2 percent on Monday, after U.S.
manufacturing, home sales and jobs data boosted optimism about
a recovery in the world's top oil consumer.
A stronger dollar helped temper crude's gains on Tuesday.
The euro fell broadly after reports that Greece wants to amend
a European Union aid deal rekindled worries over Athens's
deficit problems. []
A stronger dollar denotes a move to safer havens from
assets deemed more risky like commodities or equities.
"We're starting to come to a point where these oil prices
could start to put the economic recovery at risk. Whatever we
had last year was at an average $62 a barrel. It's another
thing to continue on the recovery path with $90 oil," Jakob
said.
Big oil producers could face a test as oil heads well above
the $70-80 range trumpeted by OPEC members this month as good
for them as well as consumer nations.
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COLUMN-Riyadh's resolve faces early test as oil rises: John
Kemp []
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INVENTORY DATA
Oil market attention will shift to inventory statistics due
later on Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute (API),
and on Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy
Information Administration (EIA).
Crude inventories in the United States probably gained for
a 10th consecutive week last week, a Reuters survey showed.
[]
Crude stockpiles were forecast to have risen 1.7 million
barrels, according to a Reuters poll, while a 1.4 million
drawdown was expected in both gasoline supplies and distillate
stocks, comprising heating oil and diesel. []
On Monday the EIA said U.S. gasoline prices rose to $2.88 a
gallon in the last week, the highest since October 2008.
"The recent spike can be largely put down to rising crude
oil prices. Compared to other products, gasoline demand is
quite price-sensitive, illustrated by the fact that it was the
only major oil product to show growth on a global basis last
year," analyst David Wech at JBC Energy wrote in a note to
investors.
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons in New
York, Chris Baldwin in London, Alejandro Barbajosa in
Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio)
