* Credit Suisse posts better than expected Q1 profit
* U.S. crude stocks highest in 19 years, refinery runs up
* Eyes on U.S. bank stress test results
(Updates prices, adds comments, detail)
By Chua Baizhen
SINGAPORE, April 23 (Reuters) - Oil steadied on Thursday,
with better-than-expected results at Credit Suisse bank lending
support to prices that had been down earlier on concerns about
the economy and oil demand.
Credit Suisse's <CSGN.VX> net profit for the first quarter
was twice as much as expected, offsetting some concerns about
the banking sector triggered after U.S. bank Morgan Stanley
posted its third loss in six quarters on Wednesday.
But general sentiment on the wider economy and oil demand
remained bearish, especially after the International Monetary
Fund slashed its outlook and official data showed another jump
in U.S. crude inventories.
U.S. crude <CLc1> fell 10 cents to $48.75 a barrel by 0701
GMT, after dropping as much as 48 cents in early Asian trade.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell 18 cents to $49.63.
"The banks have been a big drag on the economy, so when
banks start to come out with good results, it will give some
kind of support to sentiment on the economy and oil market,"
said Tony Nunan, risk manager at Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp.
Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank, posted
net profit of 2 billion Swiss francs for the first quarter,
beating forecasts thanks to strong performance at its
investment banking and wealth management units. []
"There're still a lot of concerns about banks, whether they
really are stable. We're going to get a lot of information from
the U.S. stress test," Nunan said.
The results of the U.S. stress test, designed to see how
America's 19 largest banks would fare should the U.S. recession
prove unexpectedly severe, will be made public on May 4.
The Wall Street Journal reported the banks would be briefed
by regulators as early as Friday. []
"But for now, we're just going to trade sideways to lower
for a while, based on the poor fundamentals," Nunan said.
The weak economy has slashed demand and pulled crude back
from its record high above $147 hit in July last year, with
expectations for growth continuing to be slashed.
The International Monetary Fund forecast the global economy
would shrink by 1.3 percent in 2009, the worst recession since
World War 2 and sharply weaker than the 0.5 fall it predicted
in January. []
Underlining the weak demand, crude stockpiles in the
world's top energy consumer jumped to a fresh 19-year high last
week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, despite
a 3 percentage point rise in refinery utilisation rates.
[]
The market had been supported by the 30-day moving average
since the beginning of the month before the almost 9-percent
fall in prices on Monday broke the level and turned it into the
next resistance point, Ryuichi Sato, an analyst at Tokyo-based
Mizuho Corporate Bank, said.
The 30-day moving average stood at around $50.00 on
Thursday.
"The market is still in a small range. It just has to find
direction," Sato said.
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
