American Petroleum Institute will report weekly inventory data on Tuesday By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures dropped nearly 2% on Tuesday to trade below $81 a barrel, pressured by the U.S. dollar's strength and expectations of a rise in crude-oil inventories. Crude oil for April delivery fell $1.33, or 1.7%, to $80.54 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The contract hit an intraday low of $80.35 a barrel. U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street, while the U.S. dollar rose against other major currencies. The euro dropped 0.4% to $1.3568. The dollar index (DXY 80.72, +0.28, +0.35%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of major currencies, gained 0.2% to 80.719. A stronger dollar typically weighs on dollar-denominated commodities, such as gold and oil, because it makes them more expensive for holders of other currencies. Oil futures finished marginally higher on Monday, but below intraday highs of $82 a barrel. In the short term, "there is rather too much oil than too little oil on the market, as the sustained high level of commercial oil inventories in OECD countries shows," said analysts at Commerzbank AG in a note to clients. The American Petroleum Institute will report weekly inventory data at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Analysts polled by Platts expect an increase of 2.1 million barrels in U.S. crude-oil stocks. They also project a decline of 338,000 barrels in gasoline supplies and a drop of 950,000 barrels in distillate inventories. The market is also awaiting the U.S. Energy Information Administration's monthly short-term energy outlook, which is due on Tuesday. Traders will be watching to see if the outlook for energy demand is revised. The EIA currently expects global liquid-fuels consumption to grow by 1.2 million barely a day in 2010 and 1.6 million barrels a day in 2011.

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