Light sweet crude for October delivery rose 17 cents to $74.06 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Earlier, the contract rose to an intraday high of $74.41 a barrel. "We could now easily move towards the $80 mark if the growing enthusiasm about the budding economic recovery continues to dominate sentiment," wrote Edward Meir, analyst at MF Global, in a note to clients. Oil futures surged on Friday to $74.72 a barrel, their highest level so far in 2009. They finished the week with a gain of 6.1%. U.S. stock futures rose Monday after central bankers across the globe refrained from giving signs that they would hike interest rates as the economy stabilizes. Also on Globex, September natural-gas futures fell 3 cents, or 1%, to $2.774 per million British thermal units. Natural-gas futures fell sharply Friday to end at a fresh seven-year low, pressured by a glut in supplies. See full story. "Given the latest inventory increase, we don't think [gas prices] can break above $3 in the near term. On the contrary, the market is likely to remain weak," Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a report. September heating oil gained 1.65 cents, or 0.8%, to $2.0121 a gallon and September heating oil added 0.4% to $1.9118 a gallon.

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