>Crude recovers; psychological support at USD60/bbl

Singapore - Crude oil futures recovered in Asia Thursday as the market found support near the psychologically important $60-a-barrel mark after falling for six straight sessions.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at USD60.73 a barrel at 0709 GMT, up 59 cents in the Globex electronic session. August Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 60 cents to USD61.03 a barrel.

"When you have falls like what you saw recently, there will be a point when people come (to a stop)," said Ben Westmore, a commodities economist with National Australia Bank Ltd.

"If oil drops below $60 a barrel, we may see buyers coming in simply on speculation."

Calculated from Wednesday's settlement, oil has dropped 16% since June 29, under pressure from the growing oversupply of fuels and a string of negative economic indicators.

According to latest data from the U.S. Department of Energy, distillate stocks rose by 3.7 million barrels, nearly double the expected increase of 1.9 million barrels, while gasoline stocks rose by 1.9 million barrels compared with a forecast gain of 900,000 barrels.

The International Monetary Fund's latest report said the world economy is set to contract by 1.4% this year compared with its April forecast of a decline of 1.3%. The IMF expects growth to improve in 2010.

Still, Nymex crude futures may consolidate for now, Dow Jones technical analysis shows, after falling to 6-week low of $60.01 overnight, even amid the persistent bearish economic outlook.

Daily continuation chart has a negative bias with MACD, stochastics in bearish mode, but hourly stochastic has turned bullish in oversold territory, suggesting that an intraday correction, leading to a rebound, is likely.

Unless there is fresh bearish fundamental news, sentiment now seems to favor a technical correction, Westmore said.

Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for August - the benchmark gasoline contract - rose 207 points to 165.40 cents a gallon, while August heating oil traded at 155.44 cents, 165 points higher.

ICE gasoil for July changed hands at $492.00 a metric ton, up $3.50 from Wednesday's settlement.

Source: COMMODITIESCONTROL