Oil prices hover near $73 in Asia as Wall Street reverses

       Oil prices rose moderately yesterday in Asia, hovering near $73, extending the previous days ra lly as the market was buoyed by a strong perfor mance on Wall Street and a weakening US dollar.
       Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 32 cents to $72.81 a barrel by late morning Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract Thursday added $1.06 to settle at $72.49 after tumbling from near $75 earlier in the week.
       Reflecting the dire state of energy demand, natural gas prices slumped to their lowest level in seven years Thursday after the US government reported that salt caverns, aquifers and other underground areas where it is stored are filling up. Levels of natural gas have been building because power-intense industries like manufacturing have cut back severely on production.
       Crude posted gains because of a fall in the dollar which means investors can get more crude for less money.
       Yet some analysts say the oil price is bound to fall in coming weeks as earlier euphoria about the global economy emerging from recession gives way to doubts about how sustainable the recovery is. Existing weakness in demand will also be exacerbated by the seasonal drop in gasoline consumption when the US summer dr iving season ends in a few weeks time.
       We have seen this strength (in the oil price) which reflected renewed confidence in the economy, said John Vautrain, energy analyst at consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. But in the last week or so people are starting to say that the stock market is overbought and the data is not that good.
       In other Nymex trading, gasoline for September delivery was up 0.46 cent at $2.036 a gallon and heating oil rose 0.2 cent to $1.8612 a gallon.
       In London, Brent crude was up 17 cents at $72.50.
       Wall Stre ets blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.39% to 9,580.63 points, ending higher for an eighth straight session and extending its longest winning streak in 28 months.
       There were also gains on the techheavy Nasdaq and the Standard & Poors 500 index. Oil got support from a weaker dollar, which makes dollar-priced crude cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies and therefore tends to stimulate dem and and lift prices.
       The New York contract jumped to $75 on Tuesday for the first time in 10 months after strong US consumer confidence data, but fell back on profit-taking after failing to break through that key barrier.
       Oil lost more ground on Wednesday after official data showed a surprise jump in crude inventories in the United States,the worlds biggest energy consuming nation.