* U.S., European stock markets fall more than 1 pct
* Japanese retail sales fall 5.8 pct in February
* OPEC pumping about 1 mln bpd over target - Petrologistics
(Updates throughout)
By Christopher Johnson
LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Oil fell below $52 per barrel
on Friday as weaker stock markets encouraged profit-taking after
several days of gains.
U.S. crude oil <CLc1> hit its highest level so far in 2009
on Thursday at $54.66 a barrel on expectations that efforts by
the U.S. government to tackle bad debts and reflate the economy
would help bolster domestic spending and boost oil demand.
U.S. light crude for May delivery was down $2.21 at $52.13 a
barrel by 1450 GMT, having gained nearly 3 percent on Thursday.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell $1.82 to $51.64.
Oil prices have gained more than 35 percent since
mid-February, on the back of rallying stock markets and
tightening oil supplies as the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) has curbed exports.
Crude oil markets are at the top of recent trading ranges
and technical analysts said several markets were now overbought,
suggesting it might be a good time to take profit.
An excuse for profit-taking came on Friday with Japanese
retail sales data, which showed a bigger than expected fall of
of 5.8 percent in February from a year ago. []
Economists said Japan appeared to be on the brink of
deflation as exports dwindle and domestic demand falters.
The Japanese figures followed U.S. jobs data showing the
number of U.S. workers collecting state unemployment benefit
rose to a record 5.56 million earlier this month and new claims
rose to over 650,000 in the week to March 21. []
MARKET TIGHTENING SLOWLY
U.S. stocks fell on Friday, pushing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq
indexes down 2 percent at one point as investors booked profits
after a recent run-up. Wall Street's recent surge has pushed
March towards one of its biggest monthly percentage gains since
1974. []
European shares were down as well as banks and energy majors
fell, offsetting gains made by the automobile sector. []
"Depressing economic data have put a halt to the recent
rally," said Christopher Bellew, oil broker at Bache Commodities
in London.
Fundamentally, the oil market is gradually tightening,
evidence from the shipping industry suggests.
But figures from an industry consultant showed on Friday
that OPEC oil output in March would average around 1 million
barrels per day (bpd) above the group's target as members
including Iran, Angola and Venezuela pump above agreed levels.
Output from the 11 OPEC members with production targets is
expected to average 25.9 million bpd, compared with a revised
25.93 million in February, Conrad Gerber, head of
Petrologistics, told Reuters. []
Petrologistics' figures imply OPEC delivered on around 75
percent of agreed output cuts totalling 4.2 million bpd since
Setember according to Reuters calculations. That is less than
the 80 percent found by many analysts for February.
The collective target for the OPEC 11, all members except
Iraq, is 24.84 mln bpd.
Analysts continued to caution against the lack of
fundamentals behind the latest rise in prices.
"Risk appetite has returned in full force in global crude
markets in the wake of continuing refinement of economic
stimulus measures, but the continuing string of European run cut
announcements over the past two weeks has been a reminder of
continuing physical demand weakness," said J.P. Morgan in its
Oil Markets Weekly report.
(Additional reporting by Chris Baldwin in London and Maryelle
Demongeot in Singapore; editing by James Jukwey)
