UPDATE 7-Oil falls on profit-taking, market awaits US data

* Drop follows gains of almost 13 pct in three sessions

* Analysts expect build in API crude stocks; data 2030 GMT

* Colorado State lowers 2009 hurricane season forecast (Updates prices, market activity)

NEW YORK, Aug 4 - Oil prices fell on Tuesday on expectations data will show a rise in U.S. crude inventories and proft-taking following three days of gains.

U.S. crude traded down 66 cents at $70.92 a barrel by 1:48 p.m. EDT (1748 GMT), after rising nearly 13 percent in the previous three sessions. In London, Brent crude rose 26 cents to $73.81 a barrel.

Pressure came on forecasts that weekly U.S. data would show an increase in crude stockpiles. A Reuters poll of analysts estimated U.S. crude inventories rose 800,000 barrels in the week to July 31, while distillate stocks were seen rising by 1.2 million barrels.

The American Petroleum Institute was to release its weekly inventory report late Tuesday, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration report due out on Wednesday.

"The gains of the past few days deteriorated as expectations for a further build to stockpiles grew and prompted some profit-taking," Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president at MF Global in New York, wrote in a research note.

Concerns about a rebound in the economy also weighed on oil prices, traders said. Optimism that a potential turnaround in the global economy could lift sagging oil demand has helped send crude up from lows below $33 a barrel in December, with energy traders keeping an eye on equities markets for signs of economic rebound.

Markets found some support from news that pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose at a faster-than-expected pace in June, advancing for the fifth month in a row for the first time in six years.

U.S. stocks edged higher on the home sales data, while the U.S. dollar hovered near its 2009 low.

Energy traders were also keeping any eye on an area of thunderstorms in the Atlantic Ocean several hundred miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands associated with a tropical wave, though the U.S. National Hurricane Center said it had less than a 30 percent chance of becoming a tropical storm.

Storm activity is closely monitored by traders for signs of potential disruptions to supplies of crude and natural gas from offshore installations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Colorado State University on Tuesday lowered its forecast for tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic for 2009.

For a factbox on all updated forecasts for the 2009 hurricane season, click: