* EIA data shows surprise gasoline build
* U.S. dollar firms as high-yielders sold off
* Investors eye U.S. GDP data, seen expanding 3.3 pct
By Fayen Wong
PERTH, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell towards $77 a
barrel on Thursday, extending the previous session's decline of
2.6 percent, as fears of a protracted economic recovery in the
United States drove investors to continue to take profit from
oil's recent rally.
Data this week from the United States has raised questions
about a sustained recovery with consumer confidence dipping to
recessionary levels and new home sales falling unexpectedly.
Concerns over the fragility of the health of the U.S.
economy and weakness in energy demand have prompted oil prices
to fall about 6 percent over five out of six trading sessions,
since striking a one-year high of $82 on Oct. 21.
U.S. crude for December delivery <CLc1> fell 25 cents to
$77.21 a barrel by 0213 GMT, after settling down $2.09 at
$77.46 on Wednesday on government data that showed a surprise
build in U.S. gasoline inventories last week.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> fell 22 cents to $75.64.
"U.S. economic data again included some positives and
negatives but, in the context of commodity markets that have
been looking at the prospects for international economic
recovery, it was the negatives that were the surprise and
grabbed the attention of investors," said David Moore, a
commodities analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
In a sign of investors' skittishness towards stocks and
other riskier assets like commodities, the VIX indicator
<.VIX>, Wall Street's favourite barometer for market sentiment,
jumped 12.4 percent on Wednesday.
Analysts said traders were likely to remain wary ahead of
the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) data due later on
Thursday.
The market is expecting the world's largest economy to
expand 3.3 percent in the third quarter, but a lower growth
figure could heighten concerns of a sluggish recovery and
prompt a further sell-off in riskier commodities.
[]
Asian shares tracked losses on Wall Street and fell on
Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei index falling to a 3-week low.
The U.S. dollar held firm near its highest in more than two
weeks on Thursday, while the yen strengthened broadly as
investors took profits on a host of growth-linked trades that
had been in vogue in recent months. []
Sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly tumbled in September,
their first drop in six months, underscoring the hazards to an
economic recovery even as businesses appeared to be stepping up
investment. []
New single-family home sales fell 3.6 percent to a 402,000
unit annual pace from a downwardly revised 417,000 units in
August, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration data on
Wednesday showed gasoline stockpiles logged an unexpected gain
of 1.7 million barrels.
(Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
