>Crude pares some losses on higher equities

Tokyo - Crude oil futures pared part of their losses Thursday in Asia, supported above USD71 a barrel as traders covered short positions, prompted by a rise in stock markets.

The next focus will be U.S. jobs data due Friday, and until then, crude prices are likely to follow stock market moves for any clues on the outlook for the U.S. economy, analysts said.

At 0612 GMT, front month September light, sweet crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange were down 36 cents at USD71.61 a barrel on Globex. September Brent crude on London's ICE futures exchange was 36 cents lower at $75.15 a barrel.

In early trading hours, crude dropped as low as USD71.19 a barrel in response to a more-than-expected build in U.S. crude oil inventories.

But the pressure wasn't strong enough to push prices down further.

Views on the U.S. economy have been optimistic, helping to support crude oil prices recently, because "economic indicators aren't as bad as they were, and equity prices have been stabilizing," said Tomokazu Amano, analyst with brokerage Mitsubishi Corporation Futures & Securities.

"Sufficient money has been supplied recently (in the U.S.). People are now feeling more comfortable than before" about economy, said Koichiro Kamei, senior analyst with investment advisory firm Market Strategy Institute in Tokyo.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday a higher-than-expected 1.7 million-barrel rise in U.S. crude stockpiles in the week ended July 31. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected, on average, a 500,000-barrel build. This was the second consecutive week of gain, leaving crude stocks above the average range for this time of the year.

Still, "it's difficult to sell down large volume, given that crude prices have been supported around $70 over and over," said Amano.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed up 1.3% Thursday.

Front month September Nymex RBOB gasoline decreased 22 points to $2.0490 a gallon, while September Nymex heating oil fell 124 points to $1.9445 a gallon.

Source: COMMODITIESCONTROL