Oil topped $75 a barrel in Asian trade today, lifted by rising stock markets, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, touched an intra-day high of $75.10 a barrel before easing to trade at $74.75 a barrel, up 68 cents from the previous day.
Brent North Sea crude for August delivery advanced 68 cents to $74.19.
"What's really happening is that oil has been handcuffed to equities," said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
Asian stock markets were higher today, cheered by a surge on Wall Street overnight.
US stocks had rallied yesterday on the back of solid gains chalked up by financial companies, with the Dow index ending 2.8 percent higher to close above 10,000 points.
"This rally in the US stock market followed by Asian stock markets has helped pull oil to around the midpoint of the 70 to 80-dollar range that oil producers and consuming countries are comfortable with," Shum told AFP.
"Given the state of the global economy and the expectations of a tighter oil market as the economy recovers, pricing at around $75 is reasonable at this point."
A report by the American Petroleum Institute showing a large drawdown in crude inventories in the United States, the world's biggest energy consuming nation, was another factor that helped push prices higher, Shum said.
A weaker US dollar has also made dollar-priced oil cheaper to holders of strong currencies, spurring buying and helping to lift prices, he added.
The euro was up to an eight-week high against the dollar in Asia today as risk-taking sentiment grew on higher stock prices and strong Australian jobs data, dealers said.
The euro briefly rose past $1.2680 to trade at the highest level since mid-May in Tokyo morning trade, up from $1.2630 in New York late yesterday.
The euro also rose to 111.27 yen from 110.99 yen.
