Oil down 1 percent; first U.S. crude build in 6 weeks above expectations

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 1 percent on Thursday after U.S. government data reported the first domestic crude inventory growth in six weeks, a build above market expectations.

Brent crude was down 66 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $51.15 per barrel by 11:09 a.m. EDT (1609 GMT).

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 65 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $49.53.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said U.S. crude stocks rose by 4.9 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 7. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a more modest build of nearly 700,000 barrels. [EIA/S]

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Bill Trott and Chizu Nomiyama)