Light, sweet crude for November delivery recently was trading 65 cents, or 0.8%, lower at $79.29 a barrel. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange fell 39 cents to $76.80 a barrel.

"The surprise inventory build put a little pressure on (crude prices)," said Tom Bentz, director and senior analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures. The market is in a lull at the start of refinery turnaround season, which usually results in a dip in crude demand, Mr. Bentz said. "There could be some downward pressure here in the short term," he added.

Gasoline and distillate inventories posted unexpected declines last week.

Front-month November reformulated-gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, was down 83 points, or 0.4%, at $1.9876 a gallon. November heating oil was down 1.58 cents, or 0.7%, at $2.1629 a gallon.

The 300,000-barrel increase in stocks at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for Nymex crude, is putting pressure on the front-month spread, the difference between the prices of the front-month contract and the second-month contract, said Tony Rosado of IAG Energy Futures in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

"The crude market has been holding a tight range, which tells us the market can still work higher," mr. Rosado said. "The builds were light, which tells us there's a certain tightness in the marketplace."

The unexpected increase in crude oil inventories hasn't snapped futures' upward momentum, traders said.

"These (inventory) numbers show a consistency in demand that means it will only be a matter of time before this market resumes its upward trajectory," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst for Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, in a note. "At the first sign that seasonal demand kicks in, we should see oil again test the highs and, more than likely, exceed them."

The dollar, which has rebounded slightly from recent record lows against the euro this week, is still around $1.41 to the euro. Analysts are split on whether dollar volatility has played a key role in crude's swing past $80 and current stagnation.

Ackermann said the results meant it was on track to reach it $11.9 billion annual pretax profit target.

The results come two days after Switzerland's UBS said it would post a pretax loss of up to $690 million when it announces its third-quarter earnings at the end of October.

But Deutsche Bank hasn't emerged unscathed from the credit malaise. It's taking a total charge of 2.2 billion euros ($3.1 billion); that's a writedown of 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion) on structured credit products and securities backed by residential mortgages, along with a 700 million euro ($993 billion) charge on leveraged loans and loan commitments.

Ackermann said that other businesses in the corporate banking and securities unit had produced strong results for the quarter, but overall the division would post a loss of 250 million euros ($355 million) to 350 million euros ($496 million).

Deutsche Bank is perhaps fortunate to not be saddled with the legacy costs of a closed-down hedge fund as is the case at UBS. The ongoing charges to Dillon Read Capital Management, an in-house fund that it closed in July, is one of the main reasons why UBS is now hemorrhaging profits in the midst of a rise in subprime mortgage defaults in the United States and the rising cost of lending.

Deutsche's investors had been concerned it might have been in a similar boat after reports in September said its third-quarter profit could fall as much as 1.7 billion euros ($2.4 billion), because it hadn't been able to find buyers for the risky debt it was holding.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, French lender BNP Paribas said that its risk exposure to the American subprime crisis was below 100 million euros ($142 million).

"Markets have become very sensitive to rough weather," said Bart Melek, analyst BMO Capital Markets, pointing to last week's shut-in of oil production ahead of Tropical Depression 10.

The front-month November Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was up 103 cents at $78.44 a barrel having earlier climbed to $78.52 a barrel.

The front-month November contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading $1.08 higher at $81.35 a barrel, having early climbed to $81.33 a barrel.

ICE's gasoil contract for October delivery was up $6.50 at $696.00 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline futures for October delivery were up 106 points at 203.80 cents a gallon.

Tropical Depression 13, about 170 miles east of Tuxpan, Mexico and heading inland, doesn't look to be a problem for oil installations in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, and state-run Petroleos Mexicanos said Wednesday it isn't taking any preventative action against the storm.

Tropical Storm Karen, east of the Windward Islands, is of no immediate threat and its predicted path will miss oil installations in the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico, according to National Hurricane Center prediction charts.

While these storms don't look likely to impact oil production short term, there is also an area of low pressure across the Florida Peninsula and a tropical wave over portions of Hispaniola and it's the uncertainty over how these will develop that may be bolstering prices further.

"The market, through bitter experience, is taking a cautious approach to any weather disturbances in the Atlantic and that's probably why there's little resistance against the current rally," a broker said.

But while the weather may be responsible for the short-term volatility in the oil market, expectations of a tight supply and demand balance in the fourth quarter of 2007 and during 2008 is the main factor underpinning prices.

Even a relatively bearish set of weekly U.S. inventory data Wednesday, showing an unexpected build in crude inventories, couldn't negate this view

The market, seemingly searching for bullish signs, has ignored the overall stock build and chose instead to focus on the continued slide in inventories at the WTI delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma. "This explains why Brent has been lagging behind WTI on this morning's rally," the trader said.

Mike Wittner, an analyst at Societe General in London, also pointed to the sharp fall in crude runs. "Utilization rate was 2.7% lower week-on-week, the lowest level at this time of year, partly due to a slow restart in refineries shut during Humberto and to continuing maintenance," he said.

These factors, have helped encourage the funds, who have been booking profits over the previous few sessions, to return to the market as buyers.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and five other Hollywood film studios were awarded a total of $25,500 from a Beijing seller of pirated DVDs, the China Court Web site reported Friday.

The case was heard in Beijing Xicheng District People's Court. The defendant was a video shop belonging to the Beijing Yongsheng Century International Cultural Development Co.

The pirated films included "Lord of the Rings" and "The Day After Tomorrow," the Web site said. It did not identify the five other studios.

Pirated films are popular in Beijing and other parts of China. Besides legal video shops, such as the defendant in the case, there are numerous street peddlers of pirated videos.

Chinese product piracy has worsened tensions with Washington, which filed a World Trade Organization complaint in April accusing Beijing of violating trade commitments by failing to protect copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights.

Private equity firm Lone Star Funds said on Monday it is seeking a court order to terminate its roughly $400 million purchase of Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co, saying the subprime mortgage lender has not met the conditions required to close.

San Diego-based Accredited had sued Lone Star on August 11 in Delaware Chancery Court, seeking to force it to complete the $15.10 per share buyout.

Lone Star said Accredited's only possible contractual remedy is a $12 million breakup fee. It said it is also seeking court declarations that Accredited has breached "numerous" other obligations to Lone Star.

Accredited shares closed Monday down 31 cents at $6.44 on the Nasdaq.

Toys made by Mattel based on popular characters like Barney, Dora and Diego were being recalled Friday in some Asian and European countries after the toymaker warned of lead in the paint.

The action is part of a worldwide recall of 1.5 million plastic toys aimed at preschoolers announced this week by the Mattel division Fisher-Price.

The recall includes 967,000 toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States since May. The Chinese vendor was said to have used a non-approved paint pigment containing excessive amounts of lead, which could harm young children.

Mattel, the world's largest toymaker, said Thursday that the global recall would cut its pretax operating income by $30 million.

In Japan, the toys' importer, Progress Interactive, said on its Web site that it and Mattel were jointly recalling the products and will make refunds to customers. It did not say how many toys would be affected in Japan.

Toys "R" Us Inc.'s office in Kawasaki said about 50 shops out of the 149 outlets it operates in Japan have removed all the affected products in line with the importer's recall announcement on Thursday.

One Japanese retailer said it took other Fisher-Price toys off its shelves as a precaution.

"We didn't stock any of the affected products, but we quickly removed other Mattel's Fisher-Price brand items from our shelves until the importer's safety assurance is made," said Masaki Shimizu, a spokesman of Mitsukoshi Ltd., one of the major department stores in Japan.

In Southeast Asia, six models have been recalled in the Philippines, four in Singapore, three in Malaysia and one in Indonesia, said Mattel Southeast Asia Marketing Manager Cheok Ching Won in Kuala Lumpur.

"We have already informed all our retailers in the region, in those countries where the products are affected, and all affected products (have) already been pulled off the shelves," Cheok said.

Cheok said the impact of the recall in Asia was limited.

"They are very a small fraction of it ... because they're not our core toys, and they're in very small quantities," she said. She did not have a figure of how many toys were recalled in Asia.

The affected toys were manufactured between April 19 and July 6 by a Chinese vendor that had applied decorative paint to the toys, she said.

In Hong Kong and Taiwan, Toys "R" Us stores have removed eight of the toy types identified by the Fisher-Price recall, Hong Kong company Li & Fung, which runs the stores, said in a statement Friday.

It said the toys were removed as a precaution.

Meanwhile, European Union regulators circulated details of the recall to authorities in all 27 member states.

In Britain, Mattel said most of the toys affected were still in warehouses and had not yet gone on sale.

But Fisher-Price Belgium said a few products may have found their way into the hands of children. It plans to place ads in local newspapers this weekend with details of nine products that it is recalling - including Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go toys and the Let's Go playset.

Belgian press reports said 5,000 of the toys were originally headed for the Belgian toy shops.