UPDATE 8-Oil falls nearly 3 pct on U.S. inventories, dollar

* U.S. crude, product inventories rose last week - EIA

* Dollar rises off lows after U.S. jobs data

* IEA shows global fuel demand to grow in 4th quarter
(Updates prices at settlement)

NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell nearly 3
percent to below $77 a barrel on Thursday as the dollar firmed
and growing U.S. crude inventories stirred demand concerns.

U.S. crude oil inventories rose 1.8 million barrels in the
week to Nov. 6, more than expected by analysts, as refinery
utilization fell. [EIA/S] Refiners in the world's top oil
consumer have throttled back production as weak demand hits
margins.

Product inventories rose last week as U.S. demand continued
to trail year-ago levels, according to a report by the Energy
Information Administration, which was delayed a day by the U.S.
Veteran's Day holiday on Wednesday.

U.S. crude futures CLc1 settled down $2.34 at $76.94 a
barrel. In London, Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell $1.93 to
settle at $76.02 .

"Today's EIA data was moderately bearish, especially the
build in gasoline with refinery utilization off," said Chris
Jarvis, senior analyst for Caprock Risk Management in Hampton
Falls, New Hampshire.

"More importantly, though, is the dollar and overhead
resistance for the euro at current levels."

The U.S. dollar rallied broadly in technical trading after
a weekly U.S. jobless report triggered strength in the currency
and momentum pushed it further through key levels. [USA/]

Oil and the dollar tend to be inversely correlated because
a weak dollar makes the commodity relatively cheap for
non-dollar buyers.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless
benefits last week fell to the lowest level since January, the
government said on Thursday, showing the hard-hit labor market
may be slowly improving. [ID:nN12408580]

The oil price fall came despite an earlier report from the
International Energy Agency showing that global oil demand will
grow in the fourth quarter for the first time in more than a
year. [ID:nN11377609] [IEA/M]

Its forecast for 2010 demand at 86.2 million barrels per
day was more bullish than two preceding surveys this week from
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the
EIA, a U.S. government agency. [OPEC/M] [ID:nN10320501]
(Reporting by Matthew Robinson, Robert Gibbons, Gene Ramos and
Edward McAllister in New York; Emma Farge in London; Felicia
Loo in Singapore; Editing by Walter Bagley)