NYMEX-Crude holds above $104, Fed comments support

FUNDAMENTALS

* U.S. crude was 6 cents lower at $104.06 a barrel by 0004 GMT, after settling up 57 cents at $104.12 a barrel in the previous session.

* In London, ICE Brent crude for June delivery edged up 2 cents to $119.14 a barrel. The benchmark settled at $119.12 on Wednesday, falling 55 cents, up 96 cents for the highest close since April 13.

* U.S. crude inventories rose almost 4 million barrels in the week to April 20, up for a fifth week in a row, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said. The average forecast in a Reuters poll had called for a 2.7-million-barrel build.

* But the EIA reported a larger-than-expected drawdown of 2.24 million barrels in U.S. gasoline stockpiles, a 10th straight week of decline, and a 3.05 million barrels drop in distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, their fourth drop in five weeks.

* The world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has increased its crude inventories to meet higher power demand this summer and partly to cover a possible global supply shortfall if tensions between Iran and the West escalate, Goldman Sachs said in a report late on Tuesday.

* Libya's largest refinery, 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) Ras Lanuf, is unlikely to restart for another month or more until after a meeting between board members and shareholders, an official at the refinery operator Libyan Emirati Refining Co (Lerco) told Reuters.

* Four cargoes of North Sea Forties crude loading in May have been delayed after production problems at the UK's largest oilfield, trade sources said on Wednesday, disrupting supply of the oil that helps set global prices.

MARKETS NEWS

* U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday, with Apple's surge giving the Nasdaq its biggest gain of the year, while the Fed chairman reassured markets that the central bank would do more if necessary to lift the economy.

* Copper sustained gains near a two-week high in heavy volume late Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said U.S. economic activity should grow moderately in the next quarters then pick up speed.

* The U.S. dollar floundered at three-week lows against a basket of major currencies on Thursday, having fallen prey to the Federal Reserve's dovish stance on policy.

DATA/EVENTS

* The following events are expected this week

0900 EZ Business climate Apr

0900 EZ Economic sentiment Apr

1230 U.S. weekly Jobless claims (Reporting by Francis Kan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)