By Moming Zhou & Polya Lesova, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude futures declined Thursday, pulling back from their one-year high of $82 a barrel, as weekly data showed a worse-than-expected picture in employment and as the U.S. dollar rebounded against other major currencies. Meanwhile, natural gas erased its earlier losses, rising slightly after government data showed a build-up in U.S. inventories that largely fell in line with expectations. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for December delivery fell 35 cents, or 0.4%, to $81.02 a barrel. The contract hit $82 Wednesday, the highest level for a front-month contract since last October. "Crude has pulled back as the dollar strengthened," said Brian Niemiec, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group. "Global fundamentals" are also weighing on oil prices. In currencies trading, the dollar gained back some ground after sinking to a fresh 14-month low against the euro. The dollar index (DXY 75.25, +0.28, +0.37%) rose 0.6% to 75.443. A stronger dollar tends to push down dollar-denominated commodities prices. See Currencies. "It is becoming almost imperative to trade the commodity markets from the perspective of the dollar these days, as nothing else seems to count for very much," said Edward Meir, senior commodity analyst at MF Global, in a note to clients. Meir cautioned against chasing the current bounce in commodity prices, saying that most markets are overbought at current levels and are prone to a technical correction. In economic news, the number of initial claims in the week ended Oct. 17 rose 11,000 to 531,000, the highest level since the week ended Sept. 26, the Labor Department reported. The Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that petroleum demand remained weak in the U.S., with demand for gasoline falling to the lowest level in more than five months. See full story. In other energy trading, November gasoline futures lost 1.4% to $2.0268, and November heating oil slid 0.7% to $2.0909. November natural gas added 0.1% to $5.107 per million British thermal units. The EIA reported U.S. inventories rose 18 billion cubic feet in the week ended Oct. 16. Analysts polled by Platts projected an increase between 16 and 20 billion cubic feet. The United States Oil Fund (USO 41.31, -0.02, -0.05%) was slid 0.1%, and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG 11.59, -0.11, -0.94%) was almost flat. Separately, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will increase its output quota in December if inventories fall, oil prices remain strong and the global economy grows, the group's secretary general said Thursday, according to the Dow Jones Newswires. OPEC, which accounts for about a third of the world's oil production, has raised its output in the past six months starting from April. The cartel set the quota of 24.845 million barrels a day at the beginning of this year, but has never reached that target. The 11 members bound by production quotas produced 26.4 million barrels a day of crude in September, according to OPEC monthly data, driving the compliance rate to below 63%.

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