* U.S. equities rise despite home-builder gloom, boost oil
* Resistance firm near $77.51 200-day moving average
* Coming up: U.S. August crude contract expiration Tuesday
(Recasts, updates with settlement prices, market activity)
By Robert Gibbons
NEW YORK, July 19 (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices rose on
Monday, breaking a string of three losing sessions, advancing
with a stock market that was boosted by optimism about
quarterly earnings and shrugged off weak homebuilder
sentiment.
U.S. crude oil for August delivery <CLc1> on the New York
Mercantile Exchange rose 53 cents, or 0.7 percent, to settle at
$76.54 a barrel, trading as low as $75.50 and having rallied to
an intraday peak of $77.69.
The August crude contract expires on Tuesday.
London ICE Brent crude <LCOc1> for September delivery rose
25 cents to settle at $75.62.
"The stronger open on Wall Street appears to have triggered
some fund buying," said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities
research at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
Oil gave back some early gains when U.S. stocks that were
up on news from Halliburton and Boeing pared their rise when
the National Association of Home Builders said its home-builder
sentiment index in July fell more than expected.
[]
U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday on optimism over
forthcoming technology earnings and on the strong orders
received by Dow Industrials component Boeing. []
The home-builder sentiment slide revived concerns about the
pace of economic growth that pressured markets last week after
the Federal Reserve voiced caution in remarks released on
Wednesday and Friday's report that consumer sentiment slumped.
Traders said low trading volume contributed to the choppy
price action. Crude oil trading volume was about 537,000 lots,
14.5 percent below the 30-day average.
Technical analysts keying off price charts eyed strong
support for August U.S. crude futures from the 50-day moving
average at $74.31 and solid overhead resistance at the 200-day
moving average at $77.51 and the failure of prices to hold
rallies above the 200-day moving average for four of the last
five sessions.
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Technical view of oil prices: []
Column: Producer hedges weigh on crude market
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Refined products and crude oil futures also received some
support from news of a pipeline explosion and oil spill that
shut China's port at Dalian, forcing refinery cuts.
[]
"The pipeline blast in China shutting the port and forcing
refinery cuts is being seen as supportive, probably helping
boost refined products futures," said Richard Ilczyszyn, senior
market strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago.
PetroChina <0857.HK>, which operates two refineries in
Dalian, has started trimming refinery operations to cope with
the port closure. As many as six Very Large Crude Carriers, or
12 million barrels of crude oil, are set to be diverted from
the port. []
In addition to the U.S. August crude contract's expiration
on Tuesday, traders will be eyeing data on June housing starts,
expected to be down 2.2 percent [], and weekly oil
inventory reports starting with data from the American
Petroleum Institute late on Tuesday.
A survey of analysts on Monday yielded a preliminary
forecast for crude stocks to have fallen last week, with
products stockpiles expected to be higher. []
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Christopher
Johnson in London and Fayen Wong in Perth)
