Oil lower in Asia trade on profit-taking

Oil was lower in Asian trade today after a strong overnight rally on the back of positive US data and a weak dollar, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, fell 50 cents to $77.76 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for January delivery dropped 47 cents to $77.97.

Prices surged overnight as fresh US data showed jobless claims fell in the week ending November 21 to an adjusted 466,000, the lowest since September 2008.

A separate report showed consumer spending rose more than expected in October, and a third said sales of new homes rose at their strongest pace since September 2008.

"The overwhelming (market) sentiment was based on the economic news," said Andy Lipow, analyst at Lipow Oil Associates.

Crude prices probably eased off in morning Asian trade as investors switched focus to digest the weekly oil data from the US Department of Energy (DoE), analysts said.

"The inventory numbers were uninspiring so there was not anything to drive the market higher," said Jason Feer, Singapore-based regional vice president for energy analysts Argus Media.

"Demand fundamentals are still fairly weak."

The DoE yesterday said that in its weekly report that crude stocks rose by one million barrels in the week ended November 20 and gasoline reserves were up by the same amount.