Oil prices rose above $75 a barrel Monday, on the effects of a weaker dollar and a rallying stock market. Benchmark crude for March delivery rose 72 cents to settle at $75.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for March delivery rose 86 cents to settle at $73.69 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil gained 2.42 cents to settle at $1.9658 a gallon. For February contracts, gasoline added 3.51 cents to settle at $2.0008 a gallon, while natural gas futures lost 9.7 cents to settle at $5.722 per 1,000 cubic feet. A weaker dollar also helped the rebound in oil prices. The 16-nation euro rose to $1.4158 in late New York trading Monday, up from $1.4138 late Friday. But the dollar rose to 90.29 Japanese yen from 89.85 yen. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 46.03 points (0.45 percent) to 10,219.01. The Nasdaq composite rose 11.44 points (0.52 percent) to 2,216.73. Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 5.76 points (0.53 percent) to 1,097.52.
