NYMEX-Oil steadies near $77 after steep fall

PERTH, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Oil steadied at near $77 a barrel
on Monday, pausing after falling more than 3 percent in the
previous session as bearish economic data dented confidence
over a potential recovery in energy demand.

FUNDAMENTALS

* NYMEX crude for December delivery CLc1 slipped 9 cents
to $76.91 a barrel by 0132 GMT. The contract fell $2.87 to
settle at $77 a barrel on Friday.

* Global oil products stored at sea rose by nearly 15
million barrels to 76 million by the end of October from levels
last month, according to ICAP Shipping. [ID:nLT402738]

* Mexico's three main crude oil exporting ports in the Gulf
of Mexico remained shut on Sunday due to bad weather, the
government said. The Dos Bocas, Cayo Arcas and Coatzacoalcos
ports all closed on Saturday because of cloudy conditions.
[ID:nN01401482]

* Money managers hiked net long crude oil positions on the
New York Mercantile Exchange in the week to Oct. 27, the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a report on
Friday. [ID:nN30433247]

MARKETS NEWS

* The U.S. economy has been kick-started into growth but
stock investors still face an uncertain outlook as Wall Street
gears up for comments from the Federal Reserve and a key report
on employment this week. [ID:nN01409884]

* The yen rose to two-week highs while the U.S. dollar
clung to gains on Monday as jittery investors cut back long
positions in growth-linked currencies. [USD/]

* The Dow industrials suffered its worst slide since July
on Friday on concerns that the economic recovery won't be
robust enough to sustain the seven-month stock rally, while
financials sank on renewed worries about Citigroup's balance
sheet. [.N]

DATA/EVENTS

* The following data is expected on Monday:

- U.S. construction spending for Sept (0200 GMT)

- US ISM manufacturing PMI for Oct (0200 GMT)

- U.S. pending home sales index for Sept (0200 GMT)

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PRICES

Oil prices as of 0132 GMT
Contract Mnth Price Change Day ago pct MA-20*
NYMEX Contracts
US Crude DEC9 $76.91 -0.09 -$2.87 -3.59% $76.37
Heat Oil DEC9 200.86 +0.34 -7.35 -3.54% 196.95
RBOB DEC9 196.34 +0.39 -6.53 -3.23% 191.89
#VALUE!
ICE Contracts
Brent DEC9 $75.23 +0.03 -$2.84 -3.64% $74.46
Gasoil NOV9 -- +0.00 -$19.25 -2.99% $610.89
Note: U.S. heating oil and RBOB gasoline contracts listed in
cents per gallon.
* = 20-day moving average for continuation month.
(Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)