By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures rose above $75 a barrel Tuesday, as a slightly weaker dollar and gains in European equities boosted sentiment following a long holiday weekend in the U.S. Crude for March delivery gained $1.23, or 1.7%, to stand at $75.36 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Oil prices joined a broad-based rally in commodities, as the dollar edged lower against rival currencies. Gold futures gained $24 to $1,114 an ounce, and copper futures rose 2.7% to $3.166 a pound. Read more on the move higher in gold futures. The dollar index (DXY 80.20, -0.14, -0.17%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, slipped to 80.173 from 80.259 in late European trading on Monday. Dollar weakness typically boosts dollar-denominated commodities. U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street, as stocks in Europe posted gains, picking up from Monday's advance. Oil trading was closed on Monday as U.S. markets observed the President's Day holiday. Oil futures dropped 1.5% on Friday, as China's move to hike bank-reserve requirements raised concerns over the potential for a slowdown in economic growth and a concurrent drop in its appetite for commodities. A larger-than-expected increase in crude and gasoline inventories -- the Energy Information Administration reported an increase of 2.42 million barrels in crude stockpiles for the week ended Feb. 5 -- as well as a drop in U.S. consumer confidence in February further pressured oil prices. "On the back of high commercial inventories of crude oil and oil products, weak refinery demand in the western world and expanding OPEC production, we continue to see downside risk," said Commerzbank analysts in a note on crude prices. The EIA will report its weekly data on petroleum inventories on Thursday, a day later than usual because of President's Day.

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