GLOBAL MARKETS-U.S. stocks fall as oil hits record above $100

(Updates with U.S. market close)

By Herbert Lash

NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed lower on Tuesday after a rally on Wall Street fizzled when the price of crude oil surged past $100 to a record high, adding to investor worries about inflation and slower U.S. economic growth.

Earlier in Europe, shares closed slightly higher as results from British bank Barclays gave investors confidence that more losses were unlikely in the financial sector after a shock $2.85 billion write-down at Credit Suisse.

Euro-zone government debt rose on the new wave of bank write-downs in Europe, but safe-haven U.S. government bond prices fell sharply on profit-taking and inflation worries after U.S. crude oil futures surged more than 4 percent to top $100 a barrel.

"The big move in oil is having a definite psychological impact as it dispels the notion that there will be a major pullback in the price of oil," said Chip Hanlon, president of Delta Global Advisors Inc. in Huntington Beach, California.

Oil extended four days of gains with U.S. crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange hitting a record high of $100.10 a barrel on concerns that OPEC will keep production flat or even cut output when it meets in March.

The market also is on edge over a quarrel between OPEC producer Venezuela and Exxon, the world's largest non-government-controlled oil company by market value.

Crude oil for March delivery CLc1 settled up $4.51 at $100.01, while London Brent for April delivery LCOJ8 hit an intraday high of $98.70 per barrel, surging $3.79. That surpassed the previous record of $98.50 set on Jan. 3.