* Brent recoups half of Monday loss as stock markets gain
* Bullish Q2 euro zone growth, stellar German exports add
support
* U.S. crude lower reopening from Labor Day holiday
(Updates market activity and comments to U.S. session; changes
byline and previous LONDON dateline)
By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Brent crude futures jumped 4
percent on Tuesday as strong stock markets helped the global oil
benchmark recover substantially from a 6 percent tumble in the
previous session.
U.S. crude prices were weaker reopening from Monday's U.S.
markets closure for the Labor Day holiday.
Stocks on Wall Street on Tuesday headed for a third straight
day of gains in four, building on the euphoria in European
equity markets after bullish second quarter euro zone growth and
stellar German exports data. ID:nL5N11E0ZD ID:nL5N11E0ZD
MKTS/GLOB
London-traded Brent LCOc1 was up $1.80, or 3.8 percent, at
$49.43 a barrel by 11:47 a.m. EDT (1547 GMT). It rose more than
$2 during the session to hit an intraday high of $49.72.
Brent's gains were capped earlier by China's mixed crude
imports for August. The data showed a 6 percent gain
year-on-year and 10 percent rise for the first eight months, but
a 13 percent slide from July. ID:nL4N11D170
Also weighing on the market was the growing potential for
Iran to flood the oil market with more supply as the Obama
Administration gained further support to block Congress'
disapproval of its aim to lift nuclear-related sanctions on
Tehran crude exports. ID:nL1N11E16J
"There are random factors at play," said Scott Shelton,
commodities specialist with brokerage ICAP (LONDON:IAP) in Durham, North
Carolina.
U.S. crude CLc1 was down 5 cents at $46 a barrel. It had
fallen almost $2 at one point.
U.S. crude was weighed by the closure of the largest crude
distillation unit at ExxonMobil Corp's XOM.N
502,500-barrels-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
refinery. ID:nL1N11D0P9
On Monday, Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) PSX.N shut down a fluid catalytic
cracker at its 314,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Wood River,
Illinois. The gasoline-making unit is expected to restart within
48 hours, a source familiar with the plant's operations said.
ID:nL1N11E12Z