By Emma Farge LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Oil steadied around $76 on Friday as commodities across the board held their ground after dropping on U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed reforms of banks' trading. Crude recoverd from a one-month low as a weaker dollar and an unexpected drop in U.S. crude stocks lent support. U.S. crude was 2 cents up at $76.10 a barrel at 1130 GMT, after earlier touching the lowest level since Dec. 23 of $75.62 a barrel. ICE Brent crude rose 12 cents to $74.70. Obama's proposals to cut proprietary trading at large banks tempered gains on concerns about a possible retrenchment of banks and funds in the commodity sector. "The initiative did unnerve many players in the commodity space, as the move may imply less trading by funds who are associated, promoted, or financed by banks," said oil analyst Edward Meir of MF Global. Oil prices rose to 15-month highs near $84 a barrel in early January, partly due to an influx of money following a hike in fund allocations. "Potentially, some funds will need to revise their exposure for the second half of the year," said Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob, referring to both Obama's plan and the package of proposals unveiled last week by the U.S. futures regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. "For now, it will weigh on sentiment in a global sense," said Jakob. Click here for a graphic showing the impact of Obama's proposals on commodity markets so far: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/0110/CMD_OBPRC0110.gif For a related analysis on the implications of the Obama proposals see here:

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