SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures rose slightly as the dollar weakened in Asia Friday, but the market generally lacked direction in thin trade ahead of a long weekend in the U.S. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $100.89 a barrel at 0702 GMT, up $0.66 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.25 to $115.30 a barrel. A weaker greenback offered some support to dollar-denominated oil prices, but trading was listless as market players appeared reluctant to build more positions with choppy price action likely ahead. "A weaker dollar implied by a softer U.S. economy could bolster buying interest in the oil as an asset class...(but) demand destruction will win out over the currency factor into the summer period," said Jim Ritterbusch at consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates. The U.S. economy grew at a weak 1.8% during the first three months of this year, annualized and adjusted for inflation, compared to 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2010, the Commerce Department said in its latest estimate of first-quarter growth. Also signalling weakness, initial unemployment claims rose by 10,000 in the week ended May 21 to a seasonally adjusted 424,000, versus a forecast fall of 4,000. Despite the signs of a more bearish demand outlook, however, some analysts said the market could still receive support from the supply side with low production in North Sea and lost Libyan output. "We think that support for crude oil is around $97.50-$98.20 a barrel," as there are still some positive points in the supply-demand fundamentals, MF Global said in a research note. The next big event for the oil market will be the upcoming Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting on June 8, when producers will discuss its output target in light of seasonally high demand in summer and lower exports from Libya. If OPEC continues to take a passive approach, a large inventory drawdown may occur in the third quarter and support the market, Barclays Capital said in a note. However, "given...the noise surrounding macroeconomic and demand data, that upside may take some time to materialize," it added. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for June--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 92 points to $3.0575 a gallon, while June heating oil traded at $2.9882, 53 points higher. ICE gasoil for June changed hands at $944.50 a metric ton, up $2.75 from Thursday's settlement. -By Max Lin, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-6415-4063; max.lin@dowjones.com

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