UPDATE 2-Oil falls near 2 pct to below $52 on profit-taking

                                
 * Oil down 2 pct towards $51 as investors take profits
                                
 * Japan Feb industrial output falls 9.4 pct mth/mth
                                
 * Double-digit unemployment looms - OECD
 (Updates prices, adds details, background)
                                
 By Fayen Wong
                                
 PERTH, March 30 (Reuters) - Oil fell near 2 percent to
below $52 a barrel on Monday, extending the previous session's
losses, as a bleak near-term energy demand outlook prompted
investors to take profit on oil's recent rally.
                                
 Analysts said a recent strengthening of the U.S. dollar,
which posted its largest one-day again against the euro in more
than two months on Friday, also added downward pressure on oil
prices. [USD/]
                                
 U.S. oil for May delivery <CLc1> fell 97 cents to $51.41 a
barrel by 0048 GMT, after having earlier fallen by $1.26. The
contract fell $1.96 to settle at $52.38 a barrel on Friday,
pulling back from Thursday's four-month high.
                                
 London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell 90 cents to $51.08.
                                
 Oil is up 14.8 percent since the start of the month and is
looking for its biggest monthly gains since October 2007,
thanks to rallying stock markets and tightening oil supplies as
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
curbs exports.
                                
 "The overall demand outlook, at least in the short term,
continues to look quite bleak. The rally seen in last two weeks
might perhaps have ran its course," said Toby Hassall, head of
research at Commodities Warrants Australia.
                                
 "The fundamentals really don't suggest that oil prices
should continue to go upwards. I think we are likely to see
more price correction this week."
                                
 Industrial output from Japan, world's No. 3 energy
consumer, fell by a more-than-expected 9.4 percent in February
as weak demand weighed on an economy mired in its worst
recession since World War Two, but factories forecast a small
rise in production in coming months. [nTKU103331]
                                
 Comments from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) which said on Sunday that unemployment is
set to reach double digits in many developing and advanced
countries also cast a pall over oil prices. [ID:nLT15780]
                                
 Still, analysts said hopes that the U.S. economy had
finally turned a corner was offering some underlying support
for oil prices, keeping it above the psychologically important
$50-levels.
                                
 President Barack Obama said in an interview published on
Sunday that he saw "glimmers of stabilization" in some areas of
the U.S. economy, including pockets of the domestic housing
market. [nN29271448]
                                
 U.S. crude oil <CLc1> had 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 boost oil demand.
                                
 But prices fell on Friday as the U.S. stock market
succumbed to profit taking and banks hinted that March had been
a tougher month than the previous two. [nN27277451]
                                
 Kuwaiti oil minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah said
on Sunday the OPEC member was comfortable with the current
level of oil prices, given the state of the global economy.
[nLT656587]
                                
 Crude oil speculators on the New York Mercantile Exchange
increased net long positions in the week to March 24, according
to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
released on Friday. [ID:nN27264614]
 (Editing by Ben Tan)