>Crude extends gains tracking rise in Japan shares

Singapore - Crude oil futures rose Wednesday for the third straight day in Asia, tracking a rise in Japanese shares and cautious sentiment ahead of oil inventory data from the U.S. Department of Energy.

"The oil price has nothing to do with fundamentals," said Ken Hasegawa, a broker with Newedge Japan. "It has been (strongly) affected by the stock market and currency market."

The Nikkei and the yen rose after better-than-expected GDP data were reported by Japan, the world's second-largest economy and its largest oil importer.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration is expected to report crude oil inventories fell 700,000 barrels in the week to May 15, according to the average estimate of 13 analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

"The EIA doesn't have a big impact on the oil market," Hasegawa said, adding investors recently have shrugged off bearish news.

A larger-than-expected decline in oil stocks may provide some support for oil prices, but larger inventories won't push oil prices down further, he said, adding oil will likely trade in a $57-$62 range Wednesday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $60.19 a barrel at 0658 GMT, up 11 cents in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 4 cents to $58.96 a barrel.

At 0658 GMT, oil product futures were up.

Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for June - the benchmark gasoline contract - rose 263 points to 184 cents a gallon, while June heating oil traded at 149 cents, 19 points higher. ICE gasoil for June changed hands at $475 a metric ton, up $5.50 from Tuesday's settlement.

Crude touches USD60 but fundamentals weak

Singapore - Nymex crude holding firm in Asia after touching psychologically important USD60 mark, with strengthening regional share markets offering upside lead. "(Traders) once again drew a long and overextended line between higher equities quotes and an expectation that the economy, and oil demand with it, will improve. It may make some kind of vague and hopeful sense, but we have difficulty trying to assign precise numbers from one to the other," says Peter Beutel at Cameron Hanover. "We still feel prices are constructing a top. A switch of focus from equities to oil market fundamentals would be bearish." June crude - still most actively traded contract ahead of today's expiration - up 77 cents on Globex at USD59.80/bbl.

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