* 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
(Adds French vote on refinery strikes, updates prices)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Oil jumped towards $83 on
Monday as the dollar tumbled 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 climbed $1.01 to $82.70 a
barrel at 0642 GMT, less than $2 from a five-month high of
$84.43 reached on Oct. 7. ICE Brent <LCOc1> added 78 cents to
$83.74.
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" as part of an expansionary monetary policy
known as quantitative easing, or QE, said Michelle Kwek, an
analyst at Informa Global Markets in Singapore.
"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. []
SELL THE DOLLAR
"People are still selling dollars after the G20 meeting and
that is putting upside pressure on commodities," Kwek said.
The dollar weakened almost 1 percent against a basket of
currencies on Monday <.DXY> after the G20 accord kept alive 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.
Asian equities rose on Monday, led by resource-related
shares after world stocks and the dollar see-sawed on Friday
before the G20 agreement.
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 seven out of 12 French refineries voted to
continue striking on Monday, unions said, while the remaining
five are due to vote later in the day on whether to pursue
strike 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.
China's crude oil output will rise 5.5 percent this year to
200 million tonnes, or 4 million barrels per day, the country's
National Energy Administration said on Monday, a record high
that is in line with latest official data. []
(Editing by Manash Goswami)
