UPDATE 8-Oil falls 3 percent as stock markets slide

                                
 (Updates prices, adds US gasoline futures fall)
                                
 By Robert Campbell
                                
 NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) - Oil tumbled more than 3
percent on Tuesday as a global stock market slide prompted
profit-taking ahead of OPEC's meeting in Vienna and dragged
prices further from a record near $104 a barrel.
                                
 U.S. light crude for April delivery fell $3.17 to $99.28 a
barrel by 1916 GMT, off a record high of $103.95 hit Monday on
expectations the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
would hold output steady on Wednesday.
                                
 London Brent crude traded down $3.07 to $97.47 a barrel.
                                
 World stock markets fell sharply on Tuesday amid renewed
worries about the health of big banks after the head of major
Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund warned U.S. banking giant
Citigroup needed billions of dollars in fresh capital to cope
with mounting credit losses.
                                
 "The stock market is down and there is expectation that
Wednesday's EIA data will show another build in crude stocks,"
said Tom Knight, trader at Truman Arnold in Texarkana, Texas.
                                
 Traders expect the U.S. government's Energy Information
Administration to report on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil
stocks rose for the ninth consecutive week, according to a
Reuters survey.
                                
 U.S. gasoline stocks, already at 14-year highs, are
expected to have grown for the 17th week in a row, further
cutting into bullish sentiment. Traders drove down U.S.
gasoline futures more than 5 percent in response, pilling
futher pressure on crude oil prices.
                                
 U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman repeated calls for OPEC to
increase production, while  President George W. Bush said the
producer group would be making a "mistake" to allow high energy
prices to hurt the economies of its main customers.
                                
 But OPEC appeared set to rebuff appeals for more oil as
delegates at this week's meeting continued to blame the latest
surge in oil prices on speculators.
                                
 "What we have seen is that market prices are not related to
fundamentals but to geopolitics, refining capacity shortage and
speculation in the market," said Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammad
al-Olaim in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.
                                
 OPEC may revisit output policy in April on the sidelines of
an oil producers and consumers summit in Rome, OPEC President
Chakib Khelil said.
                                
 FUNDS AND FUNDAMENTALS
                                
 Oil and other commodities have hit record highs recently
amid physical supply constraints and buying by investment
funds.
                                
 "Investors concerned about inflation and the outlook for
the U.S. dollar have preferred to park their money in other
assets, and commodities have been a principal beneficiary of
this trend," said David Dugdale of MFC Global Investment
Management.
                                
 But analysts at Goldman Sachs cautioned the recent rally
should not be blamed entirely on speculators, noting long-term
oil prices have continued to rise.
                                
 "Escalating industry costs and the need to further motivate
new investment in an industry that has largely exhausted spare
production capacity continue to be the main driver of oil
prices," the Goldman analysts said in a research note released
on Tuesday.
 (Additional reporting by Jane Merriman in London and Maryelle
Demongeot in Singapore; Editing by Christian Wiessner)