TOKYO, May 19 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures stood little changed on Thursday after surging more than 3 percent to above $100 a day earlier on the back of a surge across commodities markets following a recent selling spree.
Wednesday's rise was supported after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an unexpected dip in U.S. crude oil inventories and a large drop of 1.6 million barrels in stockpiles at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for the U.S. oil futures contract.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude for June delivery
Some analysts said selling was overdone by Tuesday, after U.S. crude had fallen 17 percent from a 32-month high of $114.83 on May 2 to $95.02.
* London Brent crude for July delivery
* The EIA reported crude inventories fell 15,000 barrels last week instead of rising 1 million barrels as analysts polled by Reuters had predicted.
Gasoline stocks rose 119,000 barrels, the EIA said, less than the 800,000-barrel rise expected, while distillate stocks fell 1.2 million barrels, against estimates they would be up 700,000 barrels.
* Canadian oil production cuts could more than double over the next few days as companies move to protect employees and property from wildfires raging through northern Alberta and cope with the shutdown of a key pipeline.
Oil companies had shut in close to 50,000 barrels per day of production on Tuesday because of wildfires in the Western Canadian province. Further cuts are expected as big fields are closed in because they cannot ship their oil to market. [ID:nN1724114]
* Japan's economy shrank a bigger than expected 0.9 percent in January-March from the previous quarter, marking a second straight quarter of contraction, data showed on Thursday, as the March earthquake and tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis weighed heavily capital spending and private consumption. [ID:nLKE7FL029]
MARKETS NEWS
* Wall Street snapped a three-day losing streak on Wednesday thanks to a rebound in commodity prices and Dell's strong earnings, but investors say stocks still face headwinds.
* The dollar rose to a three-week high against the yen on Thursday after U.S. bond yields bounced back following the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve's April meeting that raised speculation a rate hike could come sooner then previously thought.
DATA/EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Thursday: (Time in GMT)
- 2350 Japan GDP Jan-Mar
- 0430 Japan Industrial output rev Mar 2011
- 1230 U.S. Unemployment claims Weekly
- 1400 U.S. Leading indicators Apr 2011
- 1400 U.S. Philadelphia Fed Index May 2011
- 1400 U.S. Existing home sales Apr 2011
- 1430 U.S. EIA U.S. underground natural gas stocks Weekly
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Michael Watson)