Oil dips towards $79 after U.S. fuel stock rise

* U.S. weekly gasoline, distillate stocks up; crude fell-API

* Gold stays near record high; supports commodities

* EIA weekly stock data, FOMC meeting decision eyed

By James Topham

SINGAPORE, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Oil inched down towards $79 a barrel on Wednesday, after rising nearly 2 percent a day ago, following an industry report showing a rise in fuel inventories in the United States though crude fell unexpectedly.

Losses were kept in check as gold held near record highs and traders awaited separate U.S. government oil inventory data, as well as a Federal Reserve statement on interest rates and the economy -- all due out later on Wednesday -- before making further moves.

U.S. crude for December CLc1 fell 26 cents to $79.35 a barrel by 0334 GMT, after settling up $1.47 on Tuesday. London Brent crude LCOc1 shed 28 cents to $77.83 a barrel.

"Some of today's losses can be contributed to the API data, but the real focus is on the EIA numbers due out later," said Tomokazu Amano, an analyst at Mitsubishi Corp Futures & Securities in Tokyo.

Analysts also said there might be some traders in long positions booking some profit ahead of the issue of U.S. stockpile data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).