* EIA data shows unexpected rise in crude stocks
* Investors positioning before Thanksgiving holiday
* Some bullish economic data provides support
(Updates throughout, adds EIA data detail, changes dateline
pvs LONDON)
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Oil rose more than $2 to above
$83 a barrel on Wednesday, up from a near-week's low in the
previous session, with positive U.S. economic data and
pre-Thanksgiving holiday short-covering providing support.
Weekly U.S. inventory data from the Energy Information
Administration showed an unexpected rise in crude stocks last
week as imports surged, but the market shrugged off the number
and crude popped up after the report was released.
U.S. crude <CLc1> rose $2.05 to $83.30 a barrel by 11:44
p.m. EST (1644 GMT). It fell to $80.28 intra-day on Tuesday,
the lowest price since Nov. 17 after North Korea fired
artillery at South Korea in one of the heaviest attacks since
the 1953 ceasefire.
Brent crude <LCOc1> rose $2.10 to $85.35.
"It didn't seem like the inventory data moved the market at
all," said Richard Ilczyszyn senior market strategist at
Lind-Waldock in Chicago. "This is a short cover; we have
problems in Korea and elsewhere and traders do not want to go
home short ahead of the weekend."
U.S. crude stocks rose 1.03 million barrels to 358.6
million barrels in the week to Nov. 19 while crude imports
expanded by 1.16 million barrels per day (bpd) to 8.99 million
bpd, the data showed. []
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected crude stocks to
fall 2.1 million barrels.
Stocks of gasoline were up 1.91 million barrels to 209.6
million barrels, versus expectations for a 600,000-barrel draw.
Distillate stocks fell by 541,000 barrels to 158.25 million
barrels, compared with analyst expectations for a larger 1.2
million-barrel draw.
ECONOMIC DATA
More U.S. economic data depicted a mixed recovery scenario.
Traders mentioned the weekly U.S. unemployment benefit claims
which dropped, signalling an improving labour market, while
consumer spending rose for the fourth consecutive month in
October. []
But new orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell
unexpectedly, showing the largest decline in almost two years.
The euro turned negative against the U.S. dollar as
Treasury bond yields rose. []
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Graph comparing peripheral euro zone economies
http://r.reuters.com/zem66q
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Increasing investor risk-aversion has seen oil prices fall
about 8 percent since reaching a 2010 high of $88.63 on Nov.
11.
"Prices are being influenced by Ireland and euro zone debt
issues, concerns about whether China is going to overtighten as
it tries to fight inflation and last but not least the
situation between North and South Korea," Societe Generale's
global head of oil research Mike Wittner said.
"Markets are jittery and there is the Thanksgiving weekend,
so volumes will be light and prices could be volatile," he
said.
MF Global analyst Edward Meir predicted the dollar's rally
could go further, weighing on oil and pushing it below $80.
"Further strengthening here could come back and knock
energy prices with more authority next time around, possibly
taking prices through technical support of $79.50," Meir wrote
in a report.
(Reporting by Edward McAllister; Additional reporting by
Robert Gibbons in New York, Alex Lawler and Zaida Espana in
London and Florence Tan in Singapore; editing by Marguerita
Choy)
