* Commodity markets still focused on dollar after G20 accord
* Technicals show prices to rise to $84 []
* Coming Up: U.S. existing home sales for September; 2200
GMT
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Oil rose past $82 on Monday
as the dollar weakened ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke, where he may outline details of an
expected new round of U.S. monetary stimulus.
U.S. crude <CLc1> for December rose 73 cents to $82.42 a
barrel at 0240 GMT, about $2 from a five-month high of $84.43
reached on Oct. 7. ICE Brent <LCOc1> added 59 cents to $83.55.
Investors will look for clues about how much Treasury bonds
the U.S. central bank is likely to buy in a highly anticipated
move to pump more money to shore up a faltering economy.
Bernanke will make his speech at 1230 GMT after G20 finance
ministers over the weekend agreed to shun competitive currency
devaluations.
Bernanke "has been quite dovish, giving justification for
more debt purchases," said Michelle Kwek, an analyst at Informa
Global Markets in Singapore, as part of an expansionary
monetary policy known as quantitative easing, or QE.
"People are still focused on QE and the fact that they are
going to be printing more money."
At a meeting in South Korea over the weekend, G20 finance
ministers recognised the quickening shift in economic power
away from Western industrial nations by striking a surprise
deal to give emerging nations a bigger voice in the
International Monetary Fund. []
Countries like the United States are betting that with
greater representation emerging economies such as China will be
more willing to address the trade distortions causing currency
volatility and threatening increased protectionism.
SELL THE DOLLAR
"People are still selling dollars after the G20 meeting and
that is putting upside pressure on commodities," Kwek said.
The G20's "statement was to move more towards market
exchange rates that reflect economic conditions, so this
favours the appreciation of Asian currencies."
The dollar weakened about 0.6 percent against a basket of
currencies on Monday <.DXY> after the G20 accord to keep a
status quo trade of selling the U.S. currency and buying
equities and commodities such as gold. A weaker dollar renders
oil imports cheaper for buyers in Asia, where demand is growing
at the fastest pace.
World stocks and the dollar see-sawed on Friday before the
G20 agreement. On Monday, buying of Asia ex-Japan equities was
spread out across the sectors, though resource-related shares
had a slight edge.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy scored a victory on Friday
by getting his bill to make people work two more years for
their pensions through the Senate, but striking refinery
workers are putting a strain on businesses and daily life and
show no sign of backing down. []
Workers at two refineries have voted to stay on strike this
week, and workers at the other plants will meet in the days
ahead to decide their course of action.
Hurricane Richard strengthened as it bore down on the
Central American nation of Belize, where tourists were
evacuated from hotels and some residents fled to government
shelters.
The storm was seen making landfall near Belize City late on
Sunday before weakening to a tropical depression and entering
Mexico's Bay of Campeche, where Mexico produces more than
two-thirds of its 2.6 million barrels-per-day of crude output.
Mexico's state oil company, Pemex, said it was watching the
storm but had not evacuated any workers from its offshore
platforms. The storm would likely not strengthen again once it
entered the Gulf, the National Hurricane Center said.
(Editing by Manash Goswami)
