* Wall Street rallies to end higher
* Brent crude futures settle slightly higher
NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended
slightly lower on Monday after seesawing as the market sought
to consolidate after dropping below $60 last week for the first
time since May.
Concerns about economic recovery continued to help pressure
oil markets that also have been weighed by high inventories and
tepid demand.
"The market was up early but failed to sustain gains,
breaking down and taking out Friday and last week's lows,
keeping the bearish technical picture in place. But perhaps the
strength in the stock market prevented the fall in oil from
gaining momentum," said Tom Bentz, analyst at BNP Paribas
Commodity Futures Inc in New York
U.S. stocks rallied more than 2 percent on Monday as
bullish comments on financial sector performance from analyst
Meredith Whitney lifted hopes that banks' quarterly results may
be stronger than expected. [.N]
In London, Brent crude oil ended higher.
Trading sources noted that both August and September Brent
crude were at a premium to the corresponding NYMEX benchmark
West Texas Intermediate contracts, but were reluctant to point
to Nigeria's turmoil as the cause considering the high
inventories and remaining floating storage around the globe.
Nigeria's main rebel group said on Monday it sabotaged a
loading dock for oil tankers in Lagos state. [ID:nLC497427]
PRICES
* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August crude CLQ9
fell 20 cents, or 0.33 percent, to settle at $59.69 a barrel,
trading as high as $60.67. Monday's intraday low of $58.32 was
the lowest since prices fell to $56.12 on May 18.
* The June 30 peak of $73.38 was the highest intraday NYMEX
front-month crude oil price since crude hit $75.69 on Oct. 21.
* In London, August Brent crude LCOQ9 rose 17 cents to
settle at $60.69 a barrel, trading from $59.49 to $61.59.
* NYMEX August RBOB RBQ9 fell 1.11 cents, or 0.67
percent, to settle at $1.6394 a gallon, trading from $1.6010,
below technical support charted at $1.6050, to $1.6658.
* NYMEX August heating oil HOQ9 fell 2.97 cents, or 1.94
percent, to settle at $1.5038 a gallon, just above support
charted at $1.5030, having traded from $1.4871 to $1.5398.
* The August/August RBOB crack spread <0#RB-CL=R> ended at
$9.16. The August/August heating oil crack spread <0#CL-HO=R>
ended at $3.46.
* The spread between the current front month and the
five-year forward crude contract CLc61 ended at $19.00, based
on the August 2014 contract Monday settlement at $78.69, down
12 cents on the day. The spread ended Friday at $18.92.
TECHNICALS
NYMEX crude 10-day/20-day moving average: $64.44/$67.09
Technical support/resistance:
NYMEX crude: $57.65/$60.85
NYMEX heating oil: $1.5030/$1.5520
NYMEX RBOB: $1.6050/$1.7010
For a full report on technicals, click on [ID:nLD653701]
MARKET NEWS
* U.S. crude oil supplies were expected to have fallen last
week, with refined products supplies higher, according to a
Reuters analyst survey on Monday. [EIA/S]
* Total Petrochemicals USA (TOTF.PA) will restart on Monday
a fluid catalytic cracker unit at its refinery in Port Arthur,
Texas, after a snag. [ID:nN13537447]
(Reporting by Robert Gibbons; Editing by Christian Wiessner)
