Oil rallies on weakening dollar, cold weather

Oil prices gained ground on Tuesday as a falling dollar and extreme wintery weather boosted the market sentiment.

The dollar continued to weaken against the euro and touched new lows in more than two months on Tuesday, after European Union signaled aid for Greece. A falling greenback usually increases the appeal of crude as an alternative investment.

Meanwhile, below-normal temperatures will stretch from Texas to New England from Feb. 14 to Feb. 22, according to the U.S. National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center. Heating oil surged on an upbeat consumption outlook and pushed crude higher as well.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 1.86 U.S. dollars to settle at 73.75 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent crude for March delivery rallied 2.02 dollars to 72.13 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

Source:Xinhua