Oil drops after strong rally, demand hopes limit losses

SINGAPORE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Thursday,
giving up some of the recent strong gains, although losses were
curbed by production cuts and hopes that rollouts of vaccines
will drive a recovery in demand.
Brent crude LCOc1 fell 39 cents, or 0.6%, to $61.08 a
barrel, as of 0231 GMT, after touching its highest since January
2020 on Wednesday. U.S. crude CLc1 slid 35 cents, or 0.6%, to
$58.33 a barrel.
"Crude oil futures rallied following a bigger than expected
fall in inventories in the U.S.," ANZ said in a note. "However,
sentiment was curtailed by a rise in gasoline inventories."
Crude stocks last week fell for a third straight week,
dropping 6.6 million barrels to 469 million barrels, their
lowest since March, according to the Energy Information
Administration. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a
985,000-barrel increase. EIA/S
Brent has risen for the previous nine sessions, its longest
sustained period of gains since January 2019. On Wednesday, was
the eighth daily rise for U.S. crude.
However, some analysts say prices have moved too far ahead
of the underlying fundamentals.
Stocks were flat in early trading in Asia on Thursday as
investors kept tapping the brakes on runs in asset prices after
taking in tepid U.S. inflation data and comments from the
Federal Reserve chief affirming the outlook for a slow recovery.
MKTS/GLOB
Crude has jumped since November as governments kicked off
vaccination drives for COVID-19 while putting in place large
stimulus packages to boost economic activity, and the world's
top producers kept a lid on supply.
Top exporter Saudi Arabia is unilaterally reducing supply in
February and March, supplementing cuts agreed by other members
of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
and allies, known as OPEC+.