OIL UNDER DOLLAR PRESSURE

NEW YORK (AP) -- Crude prices shot above $70 a barrel Tuesday as a falling dollar pushed investors to seek out commodities such as oil and gold.
Benchmark crude for October delivery gained $3.27 to $71.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled at $68.02 on Friday after rising 6 cents.
The dollar fell to a low for the year Tuesday against the euro and several other currencies as gold prices surpassed $1,000 an ounce for the first time since February.
Investors often turn to commodities as a hedge against inflation and dollar weakness, and gold seems to be pulling oil along for the ride, said PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn.
"The move in metals has oil reluctantly rallying higher," Flynn said in his morning report. "Normally crude oil would be worrying about the upcoming OPEC meeting as opposed to worrying about the gold market."
Leaders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have signaled they plan to keep output levels unchanged at the group's meeting Wednesday in Vienna. That could send oil prices lower as traders expect OPEC members to increasingly exceed the group's official production quotas.
Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi said Tuesday that crude markets were "in good shape," boosting expectations OPEC will use its meeting this week to stress compliance with output quotas instead of cutting production.
Naimi, whose country is OPEC's top producer, told reporters in Vienna that crude's current price "is good for everybody: consumers and producers."
Energy markets also got a boost from rising equity markets, as the Dow Jones industrials, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq composite index and most major Asian and European stock indexes all were trading higher.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for October delivery rose 7.78 cents to $1.8541 a gallon, and heating oil gained 8.24 cents to $1.8029 a gallon. Natural gas rose 10.1 cents to $2.829 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude was up $3.20 to $70.02 on the ICE Futures exchange.