Oil rises above $75 as global equities rally

LONDON -- Oil prices rose above $75 a barrel Monday as rallying stock markets and a stronger euro bolstered investor confidence.

Benchmark crude for July delivery was up $1.66 to $75.44 a barrel at around midday in London (around 1100 GMT) in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $1.70 to settle at $73.78 on Friday.

Major world stock markets gained Monday as traders bet the global economic recovery will continue and boost company profits. Crude investors often look to equities as a barometer of overall investor sentiment.

A stronger euro, which makes crude less expensive to investors with the European currency, also helped bolster oil prices. The euro gained to $1.2248 on Monday from $1.2125 on Friday.

Investors will be eyeing reports on U.S. housing starts, industrial production and consumer prices this week for clues about the strength of the global economy.

Oil prices rose 3.2 percent last week despite weak U.S. jobs and retail sales figures, a sign that suggests crude may continue to climb this week.

"Last week the bulls had the wind knocked out of them with round after round of disappointing macro-economic figures," energy consultancy the Schork Group said in a report. "However, despite all this bad news we still saw good action."

In other Nymex trading in July contracts, heating oil rose 3.64 cents to $2.0417 a gallon and gasoline gained 3.53 cents to $2.0850 a gallon. Natural gas jumped 14.9 cents to $4.881 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Brent crude was up $1.90 to $75.79 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.