* Oil ticks up, shrugs off dollar gains
* Technically, overbought, consolidating; earnings support
* At risk of output rise if prices break $100
(Updates prices, adds analyst quotes)
By Nick Trevethan
SINGAPORE, Oct 23 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures ticked
higher on Friday, holding above $81 a barrel as the market
settled into its new trading range, bolstered by more strong
third quarter earnings data from the United States.
The strong third quarter earnings season may be emboldening
oil bulls looking for signs of rising demand from the United
Statex, ANZ's senior commodities analyst Mark Pervan said,
adding that recent drawdowns in gasoline stocks were also
supportive.
Solid earnings on Thursday from companies including Dow
components 3M <MMM.N>, AT&T <T.N> and McDonald's Corp <MCD.N>
lent credence to the idea that corporate profitability has
stabilized. []
But Pervan also noted U.S. refiners were operating in low
gear, and were likely to continue to do so until distillate
stocks, up 43 percent from a year ago, start to come down.
[]
"There are some warning signs. There hasn't been any
hurricane impact this year but refineries are running
historically slow," he said.
NYMEX crude for December delivery <CLc1> rose 6 cents to
$81.25 a barrel by 0643 GMT, after settling down 18 cents on
Thursday. London Brent crude <LCOc1> rose 12 cents to $79.63 a
barrel.
Crude is heading for a gain of 3.5 percent this week, its
fourth rise in as many weeks.
Focus remains on the dollar, which earlier on Friday dipped
below 75 against a basket of currencies <.DXY>. But the
greenback later pared losses to 75.082, more or less steady
from Thursday. []
In the next couple of weeks, oil was expected to trade
around $80, tracking changes in the dollar as the market's
oversold relative strength indicator, currently at 73 but off
recent highs above 80, became more neutral.
"We think the market is transitioning to a higher range But
we don't think an explosive move will be sustained," Barclays
Capital analyst Yingxi Yu said.
"We have broken the $65-$75 range seen in most of the third
quarter and we now see prices consolidating."
In the longer term the market is seen pushing higher, with
some suggesting crude will trade in treble digits for the first
time since the start of October 2008.
"We feel confident that any dips back to S75 can be looked
at as a buying opportunity," said Jonathan Barratt managing
director of Commodity Broking Services,
He said technical indicators suggested the market needed a
couple of weeks of consolidation, but could eventually rally
towards $102 with a successful break of resistance.
That could prompt OPEC to raise oil output in December if
prices top $100 in coming months, a source close to OPEC
president Angola said. []
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
