NYMEX-Crude steady after 0.6 pct gain on weak dollar
TOKYO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures held steady on Tuesday, keeping a 0.6 percent gain from a day earlier, as the dollar stood at 11-month lows against the euro.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude for February delivery was down 4 cents at $94.10 a barrel by 0011 GMT, after settling up 58 cents at $94.14 on Monday helped by the strength in U.S. gasoline and diesel markets following as series of refinery outages over the weekend.
* London Brent crude for February delivery, which expires on Wednesday, had not yet traded after settling up $1.24 at $111.88 on Monday.
* After last week's news that Saudi Arabia's crude output fell in December, a senior Saudi oil ministry adviser told the state news agency that the kingdom cut oil production because of lower seasonal demand.
Tim Evans, an analyst at Citi Futures Perspectives in New York, said the Saudi statement had given traders "assurances that Saudi Arabian production cuts were not a bid to push prices higher," keeping the $100 price target announced last January.
* Crude and refined product stocks were forecast to have risen in the United States last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed.
Crude oil inventories are expected to have risen by 2 million barrels, gasoline by 3.1 million barrels, and distillates - which include heating oil and diesel - by 1.6 million barrels.
MARKETS NEWS
* The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower on Monday as worries over demand for Apple products drove down its shares and investors braced for earnings disappointments.
* The dollar languished at 11-month lows against the euro on Tuesday after comments from the head of the Federal Reserve suggested the central bank was in no hurry to withdraw monetary stimulus from the world's biggest economy.
DATA/EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Tuesday: (Time in GMT)
- 0800 Germany Annual GDP 2012
- 1245 U.S. ICSC chain stores weekly
- 1330 U.S. NY Fed manufacturing Jan
- 1330 U.S. Producer prices Dec
- 1330 U.S. PPI inflation Dec
- 1330 U.S. Retail sales Dec
- 1355 U.S. Redbook
- 1500 U.S. Business inventories Nov
- 2130 American Petroleum Institute weekly oil report
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Richard Pullin)