Oil prices trading higher helped by Asian stock markets

Crude oil prices are trading higher on Monday as rallying Asian stock markets gives a boost to investor confidence.

US Light crude oil futures for July delivery was at $74.56 midday Singapore time ion the NYMEX, while in London Brent crude oil futures was at $75.00 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

In the currency markets, the US dollar weakened about 0.6 percent against a basket of currencies (the Dollar Index), with the Euro at a one week high, which also had an upward effect on oil prices.

However, speculative long positions that oil prices will increase, in crude futures declined 30% to 17,457 contracts on the NYMEX in the week ended June 8th, the lowest level since July 2009, according to the CFTC’s Commitments of Traders Report released on June 11th.

Trading bets on oil price gains have dropped 87% since reaching a record 135,669 in January 2010.