* Oil falls below $64, fifth day of falls
* US inventory data expected to show fall in crude stocks
* Awaits EIA monthly report
(Updates prices, recasts lead and headline, adds China's
economy seen growing stronger in Q2)
By Maryelle Demongeot
SINGAPORE, July 7 (Reuters) - Oil edged down on Tuesday, on
course for its fifth consecutive fall and longest losing streak
since February, on worries about the economy that have brought
the stock market rally to a halt and pushed the dollar higher.
China's economy has been resilient in the face of a global
downturn, a poll of economists ahead of next week's GDP numbers
shows, but recent economic data has painted a grim picture for
the world's developed economies. []
Asian stocks edged up slightly on Tuesday after a slide the
previous day, while the yen held gains against higher-yielding
currencies as investors doubt the speed of the global economy's
recovery. []
The market could find more direction from the American
Petroleum Institute's weekly crude and products stocks data to
be released at 2030 GMT, expected to show a fall in crude and a
rise in product stocks.
U.S. light crude for August delivery <CLc1> fell 16 cents
to $63.89 a barrel by 0646 GMT, having settled down 4 percent
on Monday at $64.05, its lowest settlement in more than a
month.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> was down 16 cents at $63.89.
"At times like this in the cycle where people are still
unsure about the outlook, they are more likely to buy U.S.
Treasuries and that kind of investment and that is causing a
bit of upward pressure on the dollar and a bit of downward
pressure on oil prices," said Ben Westmore, commodities analyst
at National Australia Bank.
A bleak U.S. jobs report last week has prompted portfolio
managers to reassess how quickly economies around the world can
return to growth after the deep recession, spurring a pull-back
in shares and currencies such as the Australian dollar.
[]
Oil prices have fallen 8 percent since the beginning of
July after having doubled from lows below $33 hit last December
on economic optimism in the second quarter that has since
fizzled out.
Growing unrest in Nigeria, where militants have launched at
least four attacks against oil installations in the past 10
days, put a floor on falling prices in the past few weeks.
But it failed to push prices higher on Monday when the main
militant group said it had sabotaged a Chevron <CVX.N> oil
facility and seized a chemical tanker and six crew members.
[]
Analysts polled by Reuters predicted U.S. crude oil
inventories fell last week for the fifth week in a row by 2.2
million barrels on average, while they expected gasoline stocks
to have gained 800,000 barrels and distillate inventories 1.7
million barrels. []
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) will also
release its monthly report later on Tuesday. Last month, the
EIA raised its forecast for 2009 world demand by 10,000 barrels
per day (bpd) to 83.68 million bpd, the first time since
September that it had increased the demand estimate in its
rolling monthly forecast.
(Editing by Ben Tan)
