UPDATE 7-Oil flat on profit taking, US crude set for weekly gain
* Gasoline up, heating oil down
* U.S. crude meets technical resistance around $96
* German business morale hits highest in more than half a year
(Recasts with updated prices, market activity; changes byline and dateline, pvs LONDON)
NEW YORK, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices were about flat on Friday, with Brent slightly up and U.S. crude slightly down as profit taking limited gains from strong global economic data, with U.S. crude on track for its longest streak of weekly gains since early 2009.
"We were up earlier on improving investor confidence in Germany and the ECB's announcement that they were going to help some of the financial institutions repay some of the loans earlier, which helped support the Euro and pushed buying into the oil markets," said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
Data published by the Munich-based Ifo think tank showed Germany's business morale rose to its highest level in more than half a year, indicating Europe's largest economy is gaining momentum.
On Thursday, oil got a boost from positive data as manufacturing in China and the United States grew this month at the quickest pace in about two years.
Brent edged higher to $113.32 a barrel by 12:12 p.m. EST ( 1 712 GMT) , off the session high of $113.84. U.S. crude dipped to $95.91, off a high of $96.56.
McGillian said U.S. crude met resistance around $96.
Gasoline was the only component of the oil complex to rise, while heating oil led the downward move amid ongoing maintenance.
"One way of looking at this is as some rotation between markets. Seasonally, people might be giving up a little bit on the heating oil story and shifting toward gasoline, anticipating rising seasonal demand as we move into the spring," said Tim Evans, energy analyst for Citi Futures Perspective in New York.
Inventory data released on Thursday revealed lower-than-expected gasoline stocks in the United States, which Evans said could be supporting prices.
Traders were also monitoring the Seaway crude oil pipeline after it was forced this week to curtail deliveries to its Gulf Coast terminal, potentially reducing flows out of the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures at Cushing, Oklahoma.
Seaway operator Enterprise Products Partners said on Friday deliveries to its Katy, Texas terminal in the Houston area were normal.
(Additional reporting by Ron Bousso in London and Florence Tan in Singapore; editing by William Hardy and James Jukwey)