NYMEX-Crude slips from three-week high, stays near $87

                                
 SINGAPORE, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Oil slipped on Thursday as 
traders paused following a 3 percent rally in the previous 
session, when encouraging jobs data in top consumer the United 
States and factory activity statistics from China sent prices 
to their highest levels in almost three weeks.	
                                
 	
                                
 FUNDAMENTALS 	
                                
 * Optimism that the U.S. would support debt-burned 
euro-zone countries, preventing potential defaults in the 
region, helped cement oil's gains of 3.1 percent on Wednesday, 
when January crude <CLc1> jumped $2.64.	
                                
 * On Thursday, the front-month contract retreated 12 cents 
to $86.63 a barrel at 0315 GMT, staying $2 away from a 
25-month peak of $88.63 reached on Nov. 11.	
                                
 * China's monetary policy is sure to gradually tighten 
next year as the government moves to counter excessive global 
liquidity and domestic price pressures, a central bank adviser 
said in comments published on Thursday. [ID:nTOE6B007D]	
                                
 * Production from factories in China, the world's 
second-largest oil user, reached a seven-month high in 
November. 	
                                
 * U.S. private sector payrolls rose by the most in three 
years in November, lifting optimism about the job market ahead 
of Friday's monthly government employment report, while 
manufacturing data showed growth was intact. [ID:nN01127417]	
                                
 * The European Central Bank is under pressure to unveil 
new steps to stabilize the euro zone when it meets Thursday as 
the currency bloc battles a crippling debt crisis that has 
stoked contagion fears in the United States and Asia. 
[ID:nLDE6B00QU]	
                                
 * U.S. crude oil inventories rose 1.1 million barrels last 
week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on 
Wednesday, against the forecast for a 900,000 drawdown in a 
Reuters poll. 	
                                
 * But East Coast gasoline stocks fell 937,000 barrels last 
week, one of only two regions where supplies of the motor fuel 
declined in that period, EIA data showed. Overall, U.S. 
gasoline stocks rose modestly last week, according to the EIA, 
while distillate stocks fell by 194,000 barrels.	
                                
 	
                                
 MARKETS NEWS	
                                
 * Japan's Nikkei share average rose 2 percent to a 
fresh five-month high on Thursday, after Wall Street gained 
the most in three months on talk of bold steps to resolve the 
EU's debt crisis. 
                                
 * The euro held on to overnight gains early in Asia on 
Thursday, having posted its biggest one-day rise in six weeks 
in a dramatic turnaround as the market cut short positions 
ahead of the European Central Bank policy meeting. 	
                                
 	
  DATA/EVENTS                                                  
                                
  * The following data is expected on Thursday:             
                                
  - 1245 Euro zone ECB rate decision Dec       
                                
  - 1330 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Weekly     
                                
  - 1500 U.S. Pending home sales Oct            
                                
  - U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Nov              
	
                                
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 (Reporting by Alejandro Barbajosa; Editing by Himani Sarkar)