* U.S. initial jobless claims fall more than expected
* OPEC ups output, global demand to hit record - IEA
* Coming up: EIA natgas data 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT)
NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures prices
seesawed on Thursday as the stronger dollar and reports of
higher output from OPEC weighed on prices, while a government
report showed U.S. initial jobless claims fell to a 2-1/2-year
low last week.
Egypt's unrest and rumors, later denied, that Saudi
Arabia's king had died helped keep Brent crude futures
supported and pushed them to an intraday peak of $102.88.
The Brent crude premium to its U.S. counterpart CL-LCO1=R
pushed to a record high above $16 a barrel intraday.
Rising U.S. crude stockpiles reported by the U.S. Energy
Information Administration also helped curb prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, March crude CLH1
fell 2 cents to $86.69 a barrel at 9:19 a.m. EST (1419 GMT),
trading from $85.96 to $87.07.
* U.S. initial jobless claims dropped more than expected
last week to their lowest point in 2-1/2 years. Initial claims
for state unemployment benefits fell 36,000 to a seasonally
adjusted 383,000, the lowest since early July 2008, the Labor
Department said. [ID:nOAT004750]
* An Egyptian opposition party, the Tagammu Party, pulled
out of talks on reform with the government, saying President
Hosni Mubarak's administration had not responded "to the
minimum level of popular demands." [ID:nLDE7190QH]
* Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz is alive and
in "excellent shape," its foreign minister said after rumors about the king's health triggered an oil price spike.
[ID:nLDE71919V]
* OPEC raised its oil output in January to 29.72 million
barrels per day, the highest level since December 2008, the
group said in a monthly report. OPEC said January production
rose by around 400,000 bpd compared with the previous month.
[ID:nLDE7191IZ]
* Global benchmark oil futures prices are not functioning
as accurate reflections of physical crude market fundamentals,
OPEC said. [ID:nLDE7191A9]
* Rising OPEC output and comfortable oil stocks in
developed nations should limit a further spike in oil prices,
despite demand hitting an all-time high later this year, the
International Energy Agency said in a monthly report.
[ID:nLDE7190Q5]
* Brent oil prices LCOc1 are about to decline
significantly in the short term to below $90 per barrel on
spare OPEC capacity and rising supply, Bank of America Merrill
Lynch wrote in a report. [ID:nLDE7191OC]
MARKETS NEWS
* World stocks retreated in the face of disappointing
corporate earnings. The euro slipped as expectations faded for
a rate rise in Europe and peripheral euro zone debt came under
pressure. [MKTS/GLOB] [FRX/]
* Gold declined as the dollar rose. [GOL/]
* Copper fell to its lowest in around 10 days, retreating
further from a record high hit this week, as the dollar rose
and an interest rate hike in top consumer China flagged slower
economic growth. [MET/L]
UPCOMING DATA/EVENTS
* U.S. Energy Information Administration natural gas
storage data at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) on Thursday.
9:19 LAST NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT DAY AGO
CHNG CHNG VOL VOL
CLc1 86.69 -0.02 0.0% 85.96 87.07 75,295 414,877
CLc2 89.97 -0.13 -0.1% 89.30 90.41 42,330 218,966
LCOc1 101.87 0.08 0.1% 101.31 102.88 51,524 136,431
RBc1 2.5144 -0.0116 -0.5% 2.5069 2.5480 4,910 66,010
RBc2 2.6587 -0.0041 -0.2% 2.6479 2.6823 4,695 49,471
HOc1 2.7459 -0.0238 -0.8% 2.7364 2.7801 8,628 54,404
HOc2 2.7490 -0.0216 -0.8% 2.7410 2.7808 5,658 34,260
* NYMEX crude oil for March CLc1 fell 2 cents to $86.69 a
barrel by 9:19 a.m. in volume of 75,295 lots.
(Reporting by Robert Gibbons; Editing by Walter Bagley)
