* Durable goods data help pressure U.S. crude
* Brent crude slip partly on euro zone debt worry
* Coming Up: U.S. 4th quarter GDP data, Friday
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity)
By Gene Ramos
NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) - Oil prices dropped back on Thursday in a
bout of profit-taking as investors paused after a hefty rally on supply
worries amid the fighting in Libya and growing unrest in the Middle East.
Trading was volatile and volume thin as investors awaited the next turn
of events in the Middle East and as they also weighed developments
surrounding Japan's nuclear crisis.
U.S. crude oil futures <CLc1> fell 74 cents to $105.01 a barrel, having
extended the day's low to $104.76. It earlier hit a session high of
$106.69, near the March 7 peak of $106.95, the highest since September
2008.
In London, May Brent <LCOc1> was down 12 cents to $115.43 after dipping
to $114.50, the session low, earlier.
"The propensity to take profits is pretty strong here after moving up
about $10 since March 16 and (U.S. crude) ran into some resistance ahead of
the year's high at $106.95," said Andrew Lebow, broker at MF Global in New
York
"Brent has been held back by a big unwind of the Brent/WTI," Lebow
added.
The volatile trading scenario caused Brent's premium against its
counterpart U.S. crude to retrace upward to above $10, after dipping early
to below $9. <CL-LCO1=R>
Earlier, news that a French fighter jet, part of a U.N. coalition
enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, had destroyed a Libyan war plane,
pulled back Brent crude from negative territory.
Brent crude fell earlier on concerns about euro zone debt problems
following the resignation of Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates on
Wednesday.
U.S. crude oil had been pressured earlier by economic data showing new
orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell in February, but was
supported by improved labor market data and persistent worries about unrest
in the Middle East and fighting in Libya.
A French warplane destroyed a Libyan military aircraft with an
air-to-ground missile as it was landing at Misrata air base in western
Libya on Thursday, France's armed forces said.[]
Allied warplanes hit military targets deep inside Libya but failed to
prevent tanks reeentering the western town of Misrata, underlining the
difficulty of the U.N.-basekd mission to protect Libyans from government
forces. []
In Yemen, soldiers loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh clashed with
army units backing opposition groups demanding he step down while in Syria,
at least 37 people were killed in the city of Deraa, as protests grew,
prompting the government to promise it would to protesters' demands.
[] []
In Bahrain, opposition activists sai they planned to hold a day of
demonstrations throughout the tiny island country on Friday in defiance of
a ban on all public gatherings. []
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More on Middle East unrest: [][]
Libya graphics http://link.reuters.com/neg68r
Oil technicals []
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(Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons in New York; Claire Milhench in
London; and Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore; Editing by Walter Bagley)
