SINGAPORE, April 28 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures rose in early trade on Thursday, to their highest in 2-1/2 years, as the dollar remained under pressure after the Federal Reserve gave no sign it was about to tighten monetary policy.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude for June
* After getting an early boost from U.S. inventory data showing tightening gasoline stockpiles, oil markets extended gains after the Fed signaled it was in no rush to scale back its support for the U.S recovery as it cut its forecast for 2011 economic growth. [ID:nN26291565]
* U.S. crude oil stocks surged by more than 6 million barrels last week as imports rose, while gasoline stockpiles fell for the 10th straight week, weekly data from the Energy Information Administration showed. crude stocks rose 6.16 million barrels in the week to April 22 to 363.13 million barrels, versus expectations for an 800,000-barrel build in a Reuters poll of analysts.
* More than 200 members of Syria's ruling Baath Party quit on Wednesday over President Bashar al-Assad's violent repression of pro-democracy protests, the first public sign of serious dissent within the governing ranks. [ID:nLDE73Q1E8]
* The United States took steps to throw a financial lifeline to rebels controlling eastern Libya while forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi focused their firepower on pockets of resistance in the west. [ID:nLDE73Q2D8]
* Japan's industrial output fell a record 15.3 percent in March after last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami damaged factories, caused supply chain problems and led to power shortages. The fall exceeded a median market forecast of an 11.0 percent drop and exceeded the previous record decline of 8.6 percent marked in February 2009 during the global financial crisis. [ID:nLKE7DP02P]
* BP Plc's giant Texas City, Texas refinery remained idle Wednesday as power supply problems plagued the regional refining hub for a third day, according to sources familiar with refinery operations. [ID:nN27153474]
MARKETS NEWS
* The dollar sank to a three-year low against a basket of major currencies on Thursday after the Federal Reserve said it would end its bond-buying programme in June as planned and appeared in no rush to tighten monetary policy further.
* Gold rose to a record high of almost $1,530 an ounce on Wednesday and silver jumped 6 percent after the Fed meeting.
* Global stocks rallied and the U.S. dollar slid to a three-year low against major currencies on Wednesday after the Fed meet.
* The Nasdaq jumped to a 10-year high as U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday after Bernanke's news conference.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) :
1230 U.S. Initial Claims
1230 U.S. GDP preliminary Q1-Adv
1400 U.S. Pending home sales Mar
1430 U.S. EIA natural gas stocks
1500 U.S. KC Fed survey Apr
RECENT CRUDE OIL TRADES
Asia... Europe... Americas...
CRUDE OIL MARKET NEWS
Crude oil tenders in Asia........................
Crude oil supply outages in Asia............
Refinery outages in Asia....................
Global arbitrage news and flows.................
W.African crude imports to Asia, monthly........
REFINERY MAINTENANCE DIARIES
Asia... Middle East... Europe...
NATIONAL CRUDE IMPORT DATA
Japan..............
China..............
India..............
S.Korea............
Indonesia.......
CRUDE OIL INVENTORY DATA
Japan... US... Europe...
CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION/OILFIELD NEWS
OPEC output survey... New Asian fields.
New projects......
CRUDE OIL MARKET REPORTS
Middle East........... Asia-Pacific........
West Africa......... North Sea............
Asia outlook....... Europe outlook.....
Global futures report... Technicals report......
PRICES
For all Official Selling Prices......................
For a POLL on oil prices............................
NYMEX and ICE oil futures...........................
TOCOM crude oil futures.............................<0#JCO:>
Dubai, Oman swaps and spread...............
Middle East physical crude diffs...............
Australia physical crude, Tapis swaps..........
Asia-Pacific physical crude....................
All Asian crude oil differentials................<0#C-DIF-A>
All Asian crude oil outright prices..................<0#C-A> (Reporting by Manash Goswami; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)