(Corrects headline and lead to "below $49", instead of "below
$48.")

* Crude stocks up 4.7 mln bbls, dwarfing forecasts-API

* Heating oil up on cracks play, RBOB highest since Nov.

* February housing starts up, lifting Wall Street

NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures
dipped below $49 in post-settlement trade on Tuesday after data
from the industry group American Petroleum Institute showed
crude inventories rose much more than expected last week.

"The API numbers on crude inventories are very bearish and
reflect poor demand at the refineries," said Phil Flynn,
analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago.

Earlier, crude futures settled at their highest level since
December, supported by a surge in heating oil and gasoline
futures and on options expiration play for the front-month
April crude contract.

Also supportive for crude futures, U.S. stocks jumped on an
unexpected surge in February housing starts, giving investors a
rare bit of good economic news. [.N]

Gasoline futures also hit their highest level since early
November, ahead of weekly U.S. inventory data in which analysts
predicted a drawdown in gasoline supplies last week. [EIA/S]

Sources said heating oil was strong due to short-covering
by crack-spread traders, and agricultural diesel demand for the
approaching planting season and revived interest in jet fuel,
which both use heating oil futures as pricing benchmark.

PRICES

* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, at 4:50 p.m. EDT
(2050 GMT), April crude CLJ9 was up $1.26, or 2.66 percent,
at $48.61 a barrel. It earlier settled up $1.81, or 3.82
percent, at $49.16, the highest settlement since Dec. 1, 2008's
close at $49.28. It traded from $46.53 to $49.82, the highest
intraday since this year's high of $50.47 was hit on Jan. 6.

* In London, new front-month May Brent LCOK9 crude was up
$1.26 or 2.71 percent, at $47.72 a barrel. It settled up $1.78,
or 3.83 percent, at $48.24, trading from $45.22 to $48.65.

* NYMEX April heating oil HOJ9 was up 5.15 cents or 4.25
percent, at $1.2645 a gallon. It settled up 6.17 cents, or 5.09
percent, at $1.2747 a gallon, trading from $1.19 to $1.2873,
the highest since Feb. 27's high of $1.2964.

* NYMEX April RBOB RBJ9 was up 4.24 cents, or 3.1
percent, at $1.4097 a gallon. It settled up 5.65 cents, or 4.13
percent, at $1.4238, the highest settlement since $1.4244 on
Nov. 5, 2008. It traded from $1.3510 to $1.43, the highest
intraday since $1.4421 was hit on Nov. 10, 2008.

* The April/April RBOB crack spread <0#RB-CL=R> rose to
$10.64, up from $10.08 at the close on Monday. The April/April
heating oil crack spread <0#CL-HO=R> ended at $4.38, rising
from $3.60 at the close on Monday.

* The spread between the current front month and the
five-year forward crude contract CLc61 widened to $19.47,
from $19.35 at the close on Monday. The April 2014 contract
settled at $68.63, up $1.93, or 2.89 percent.

TECHNICALS

NYMEX crude 10-day/20-day moving average: $44.94/$42.42

Technical support/resistance: NYMEX crude: $39.00/$50.00;

NYMEX heating oil: $1.12/$1.30; NYMEX RBOB: $1.20/1.40

MARKET NEWS

* The API said in its inventory report released at 4:30
p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) that domestic crude stocks rose 4.7 million
barrels last week to 349.9 million barrels, gasoline stocks
gained 383,000 barrels to 216.9 million barrels and distillate
stocks added 327,000 barrels to 144.3 million barrels. [API/S]

* The U.S. Energy Information Administration will issue its
own data at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday.

* An expanded Reuters poll showed forecasts for a 1.0
million-barrel build in crude stocks last week. Gasoline stocks
were seen down 1.2 million barrels and distillates up 700,000
barrels. [EIA/S]

* U.S. housing starts unexpectedly jumped 22.2 percent in
February -- Commerce Department data. [ID:nN17208241]

* U.S. producer prices rose less than expected in February,
as the pace of energy price increases slowed. [ID:nN17254589]

* The U.S. Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting Tuesday
that is expected to end with a renewed vow to do whatever is
needed to pull the economy out of recession. [ID:nN17254589]
(Reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons; Editing by
Marguerita Choy)