* Brent-WTI spread down over 45 pct since April

* Brent held back by high Middle East, West African output

* WTI pushed up by U.S. summer demand, Canadian wildfires

* Technical indicators point to further spread narrowing

(Adds quote, updates prices)

By Henning Gloystein and Florence Tan

SINGAPORE, May 28 (Reuters) - Crude oil prices recovered on Thursday after a two-day slide, although high U.S. stocks and strong global production, along with a firm dollar, were keeping markets under pressure.

The resurgent dollar had weighed on the market earlier in the week, plus concerns that U.S. crude supplies may have started rising again. ID:nL1N0YI2P8

Industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) said after the market's settlement that U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels last week, following three weeks of straight withdrawals. EIA/S

The U.S. dollar index .DXY ticked lower but remained near one-month highs.

Front-month Brent futures LCOc1 climbed 44 cents to $62.50 a barrel by 0353 GMT on Thursday. U.S. crude futures CLc1 were up 18 cents from their last settlement at $57.69 per barrel.

Brent's premium over West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CL-LCO1=R has come off more than 45 percent since mid-April, with record OPEC production weighing on Brent.

"The market is trying to anticipate what's going to happen tonight," Phillips Futures analyst Daniel Ang in Singapore said, referring to the release of weekly oil inventories data by the Energy Information Administration later on Thursday.

"We're seeing a narrowing of the WTI-Brent spread, which would suggest that U.S. crude inventories are expected to have dropped," he said.

Analysts said in a Reuters poll on Wednesday that crude stocks in the United States probably fell by 900,000 barrels last week, dropping for a fourth straight week. EIA/S

The American benchmark, meanwhile, received some support from the peak-demand summer driving season, almost a month of steady stock draws that only came to an end this week, and raging Canadian wildfires that forced the evacuation of several oil and gas sands production sites. ID:nL1N0YI2GW

Technical market indicators implied that the WTI-Brent spread could narrow further as U.S. oil could rebound into a range of $58.14-$58.41 per barrel while Brent was expected to drop to $61.50 per barrel, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. ID:nL3N0YJ145 ID:nL3N0YJ08J

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CHART 1-Brent/WTI spread:

http://link.reuters.com/ryb84w

CHART 2-WTI technicals:

http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/US/2/PVB_20152805085517.png

CHART 3-Brent technicals:

http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/US/2/PVB_20152805091727.png

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

(Editing by Richard Pullin and Alan Raybould) ((henning.gloystein@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6870 3263)(Reuters Messaging:henning.gloystein.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

((CRUDE OIL TRADES

Asia... ACRU/T Europe... CRU/T Americas... CRU/TU

CRUDE OIL MARKET NEWS

Crude oil tenders in Asia........................ CRU/TENDA

Crude oil supply outages in Asia............ CRU/OUT-ASIA-O

Refinery outages in Asia.................... REF/OUT-ASIA-O

Global arbitrage news and flows................. O/CRUDEARB

W.African crude imports to Asia, monthly........ O/WAFRICA1

REFINERY MAINTENANCE DIARIES

Asia... REF/A Middle East... REF/ME Europe... REF/E

NATIONAL CRUDE IMPORT DATA

Japan.............. METI/JP1 China.............. O/CHINA1

India.............. O/INDIA2 S.Korea............ O/KOREA1

Indonesia....... O/INDO1-CRU

CRUDE OIL INVENTORY DATA

Japan... O/JAPAN1 US... EIA/S Europe... O/EUROIL1

CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION/OILFIELD NEWS

OPEC output survey... OPEC/O New Asian fields... ASIA/NEW

New Africa fields... AFR/NEW New Europe fields.. NSEA/NEW

New Americas fields.. AM/NEW New projects..... ENERGY/NEW

CRUDE OIL MARKET REPORTS

Middle East........... CRU/M Asia-Pacific........ CRU/AP

West Africa......... CRU/WAF North Sea............ CRU/E

Asia outlook....... ASIA/CRU Europe outlook..... EUR/CRU

Global futures report... O/R Technicals report...... O/I

PRICES

For all Official Selling Prices...................... OSP/O

For a POLL on oil prices............................ O/POLL

NYMEX and ICE oil futures........................... OILOIL

TOCOM crude oil futures............................. 0#JCO:

Dubai, Oman swaps and spread............... ASIA/SWAP/CRUDE

Middle East physical crude diffs............... CRUDE/ASIA2

Australia physical crude, Tapis swaps.......... CRUDE/ASIA1

Asia-Pacific physical crude.................... CRUDE/ASIA3

All Asian crude oil differentials................ 0#C-DIF-A

All Asian crude oil outright prices.................. 0#C-A ))

Keywords: MARKETS ASIA NYMEX/