>Oil steady in Asia; bulls seem reluctant

Singapore - Crude oil futures were little changed in Asia Friday as bulls seemed reluctant to start another run before seeing more positive macroeconomic signs.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $79.77 a barrel at 0705 GMT, down 10 cents in the Globex electronic session. December Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell 21 cents to $77.83 a barrel.

The market is generally listless, with the front-month Nymex crude contract hovering around $80 a barrel.

"There's been very little movement (today)," said David Moore, commodities strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Oil hit $80.46 a barrel in the previous session after the U.S. Commerce Department reported a 3.5% annualized increase in third-quarter gross domestic product. But market participants appear cautious in making another run, as they doubt the soundness of the recovery.

"GDP growth this past quarter was positive only because of all the government stimulus programs," said Mike Sanders with Sander Capital Advisors.

Once the U.S. government decides to cut public spending and raise interest rates, which it will need to do inevitably in the future, the economy could dip again and bring down oil prices with it, say some analysts.

Before crude and petroleum products inventories show any signs of dwindling, the market will likely continue to take cues from macroeconomic reports and monetary policy, with U.S. employment data and a Federal Open Market Committee announcement due next week in focus.

Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for December--the most traded gasoline contract--gained 40 points to 202.30 cents a gallon, while December heating oil traded at 207.70 cents, 17 points lower.

ICE gasoil for November changed hands at $638.50 a metric ton, down $5.50 from the last settlement.

Source: COMMODITIESCONTROL