* Firmer equities provide support, outweigh strong dollar
* China's oil demand rose 19.4 pct in Feb
* Coming up: Euro zone summit March 25-26
(Updates prices, recasts, changes dateline from LONDON)
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - Oil rose slightly on Monday
toward $81 a barrel as a new U.S. healthcare reform bill
boosted Wall Street, outweighing pressure on crude from a
stronger dollar.
President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul
brought relief to investors and sent shares in the healthcare
sector higher after a year of volatile trading on concerns over
the burdens from reform. []
The euro fell to a three-week low against the dollar on
Monday on uncertainty about aid for debt-stricken Greece. A
stronger dollar indicates investors are moving away from assets
deemed to carry more risk, such as commodities and equities.
[]
U.S. crude for April delivery <CLc1>, which expires later
on Monday, rose 6 cents to $80.74 a barrel at 12:43 p.m. EDT
(1643 GMT), after earlier falling to $78.57. Brent crude
<LCOc1> rose 5 cents to $79.93.
"Once the stock market turned around it looked like (crude)
firmed and is trying to consolidate in the $80 area," said Gene
McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford,
Connecticut.
Oil in New York settled at $80.68 on Friday, which also
marked two consecutive weeks of price falls. []
This month, oil has rallied above $83 but not topped the
2010 high of $83.95 set in January. While inventories are
falling in industrialized countries and global demand is
expected to rise, supply remains ample.
A Reuters poll last week showed the oil market will
probably face oversupply of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) this
year. []
OPEC at a meeting last week kept its official output
ceiling unchanged, but it did not stress additional compliance
with production limits that the group, according to industry
estimates, is already exceeding by almost 2 million bpd.
"We just have not seen enough fundamentals to justify a
further increase in the price," said Toby Hassall of CWA Global
Markets in Sydney. "We are still seeing oversupply in Europe
and the U.S."
European leaders sent out conflicting signals at the
weekend over aid to Greece, with Germany urging Athens to solve
its debt problems alone and Italy backing EU support. EU
leaders will meet on March 25-26. []
The latest indication of China's growing oil demand could
offer support. Implied oil demand in the world's second-biggest
energy user rose 19.4 percent in February over a year earlier.
Commercial crude oil inventories rose 5.2 percent in
February over January to 28.2 million tonnes, China OGP
reported on Monday. []
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons in New
York, Alex Lawler in London, Seng Li Peng in Singapore; Editing
by Lisa Shumaker)
