Asian equities fell overnight, a session marked by a 6.7% slump in Shanghai stocks tied to concerns over the pace of bank lending. China ranks as the world's No. 2 consumer of oil. U.S. stock futures were also pointing solidly lower to start the week. The dollar rose against most of its major rivals. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for October delivery lost $1.78, or 2.4%, to $70.96 a barrel. Oil had hit $75 a barrel in recent days, a level not seen in 10 months, but ended last week down 1.6%. "The slump in Chinese markets will likely lead to a pullback in most commodities as demand concerns become the primary focus of investors this week," said Brian Niemiec, analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group. Oil fell also as "the dollar is slightly stronger" in foreign-exchange trading. The dollar index (DXY 78.51, +0.18, +0.23%) gained 0.2% to 78.536, as the greenback rose against the euro and the British pound but fell against the Japanese yen. A stronger dollar tends to push down dollar-denominated commodities prices. Gold futures, also denominated in the dollar, fell more than 1% on Monday. Following the speculative money Despite Monday's losses, crude prices, as gauged by Nymex front-month futures contracts, are poised to rise about 2% on the month, after a slight decline in July. Speculators sharply increased their buying positions in the week ended Aug. 25, when crude prices hit $75 a barrel, latest regulatory data showed. Net long positions held by non-commercial traders, or those who don't need physical oil delivery, rose more than 16,800 contracts, according to a weekly report released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. One contract represents 1,000 barrels of oil. The Energy Information Administration reported last week that U.S. crude inventories rose in the week ended Aug. 21, pushed up by a jump in imports. Meanwhile, petroleum demand remained weak in comparison with where it stood a year ago. Also in energy trading, September reformulated gasoline lost 2.04 cents, or 1%, to $2.0414 a gallon and September heating oil fell 4.01 cents, or 2.2%, to $1.8202 a gallon. Both contracts expire Monday. October natural gas fell 7.2 cents, or 2.4%, to $2.961 per million British thermal units. Natural gas is set to end the month down more than 20%. Moming Zhou is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York. Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.

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