NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude futures fell sharply Monday, as steep declines in global equity markets and a rally in the U.S. dollar encouraged traders to sell commodities. Light sweet crude for September delivery dropped $1.53, or 2.3%, to $66 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The contract earlier touched an intraday low of $65.65 a barrel. "Commodities prices have come under significant pressure since Friday following the release of disappointing U.S. consumer confidence data and on the back of falling equity markets," wrote analysts at Commerzbank in a note to clients. Oil prices had tumbled 4.3% on Friday. U.S. stock futures pointed to a sell-off on Wall Street Monday, amid a backdrop of economic worries and skidding overseas markets, with weak figures from Lowe's adding to the bearish sentiment. See Indications. USO 35.33, -0.70, -1.94% 10080604020 09OMMJ Shanghai stocks tumbled 5.8% Monday, suffering their biggest percentage drop so far this year and leading a broad sell-off in Asian stock markets. "With the recent rise in crude mainly pinned on hopes for increased demand in the future amid economic recovery, any dent to this ideology could continue to weigh on crude prices especially as current crude fundamentals remain poor," said Nimit Khamar, analyst at Sucden Financial Research, in a note to clients. In the currency markets, the dollar and yen got a lift against major rivals, as falling equity markets sent investors into the perceived safety of lower-yielding currencies. The dollar index (DXY 79.40, +0.63, +0.80%) , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, rose to 79.425, up from 78.906 late Friday. Also on Globex, September-reformulated gasoline fell 1.1% to $1.9153 a gallon and September heating-oil futures dropped 2% to $1.8034 a gallon. September natural-gas futures fell 1.8% to $3.177 per million British thermal units. Polya Lesova is a New York-based reporter for MarketWatch. Add Comment ›View All 11 Comments ›AlertEmailP

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