NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures fell
back in post-settlement trading on Tuesday after industry group
American Petroleum Institute said domestic crude stocks last
week rose much more than analysts had forecast.

Crude futures earlier settled slightly up, helped by Wall
Street's recovery in afternoon trade from the day's lows.
Equities later dropped back down again.

"The API's crude oil data was bearish, with a
larger-than-expected 4.6 million barrel build," said Tim Evans,
energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York.

But Evans cautioned that "all conclusions should be
considered tentative, pending confirmation by the more
definitive data" from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration on Wednesday.

Expectations that inventory reports will show crude oil
supplies grew more last week had limited the day's gains. Crude
futures were down sharply in early trade as the dollar rose.

On Monday, crude futures surged more the than 3 percent as
Wall Street stocks jumped on the U.S. Treasury's plan for
dealing with troubled bank assets.

The API said crude stocks rose 4.6 million barrels to 354.5
million barrels last week.

Gasoline stocks were down 805,000 barrels to 216.0 million
barrels while distillate stocks dropped 1.6 million barrels to
142.7 million barrels.

The EIA report will be released at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430
GMT) on Wednesday.

PRICES

* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May crude CLK9 at
4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 GMT), was down 42 cents, or 0.78 percent,
at $53.38 a barrel. It had settled up 18 cents, or 0.33
percent, at $53.98, the highest settlement since Nov. 28 when
it closed at $54.43. It traded from $52.45 to $54.20, a fresh
intraday high for 2009 and the highest since $54.62 was struck
on Dec. 1.

* In London, May Brent LCOK9 crude was down 65 cents or
1.22 percent, at $52.82 a barrel. It had settled up 3 cents, at
$53.50, trading from $52.42 to $53.61.

* NYMEX April RBOB RBJ9 was up 0.44 cent, or 0.3 percent,
at $1.4925 a gallon. It earlier settled up 1.45 cents, or 0.97
percent, at $1.5026 a gallon, the highest settlement since
$1.5237 on Nov. 4. It traded from $1.4663 to $1.5215.

* NYMEX April heating oil HOJ9 was up 1.97 cents, or 1.34
percent, at $1.4904 a gallon. It had settled up 2.89 cents, or
1.9 percent, at $1.4996, highest close since Jan. 13's $1.5141.
It traded from $1.4522 to $1.5026.

* The May/May RBOB crack spread <0#RB-CL=R> slid to $9.13,
from $9.59 at the close on Monday. It ended Monday at $9.59.
The May/May heating oil crack spread <0#CL-HO=R> ended at $9,
widening from $8.57 at the close on Monday.

* The spread between the current front month and the
five-year forward crude contract CLc61 narrowed to $23.33,
from $24.34 at the close on Monday. The May 2014 contract
settled at $77.31, down 83 cents, or 1.06 percent.

TECHNICALS

NYMEX crude 10-day/20-day moving average: $48.99/$46.57

Technical support/resistance:

NYMEX crude: $50.47/$54.80

NYMEX heating oil: $1.33/$1.48

NYMEX RBOB: $1.36/1.5181

For a report on technicals click [ID:nLO89886]

MARKET NEWS

* An expanded Reuters analyst survey on Tuesday yielded
forecasts for crude supplies to be up 1.2 million barrels,
gasoline stocks to be down 600,000 barrels and distillate fuels
to be up 200,000 barrels. [EIA/S]

* The dollar rose as optimism dwindled about a U.S.
government plan to remove bad assets from bank balance sheets,
prompting safe-haven bets on the greenback. [USD/]

* After recovering slightly, U.S. stocks closed lower, on
profit-taking, as investors paused to reassess the likely
success of the government's latest plan to clean up bank
balance sheets and revive the financial system. [.N]

* A cooler-than-average spring was forecast for the U.S.
north and parts of the southeast, but warmer-than-average
temperatures were expected in the rest of the nation, private
forecaster WSI Corp said Monday. [ID:nN23606796]

* Striking oil workers were off the job a second straight
day on Tuesday, but Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) kept output flowing
with emergency crews, the union said. [ID:nN24330596]

* OPEC's output curbs may lead to a decline in
industrialized nations' stocks as early as June, the deputy
head of the International Energy Agency said. [ID:nLO243023]
(Reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons; editing by Lisa
Shumaker)