Oil over $79 on dollar, U.S. consumer data

By Rebekah Kebede

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose above $79 a barrel on Monday as a weaker dollar and better-than-expected U.S. consumer spending data boosted prices.

U.S. crude futures for December delivery rose $2.73 to $79.08 a barrel by 1:37 p.m. EST (1837 GMT), after reaching a high of $79.24 a barrel.

In London, Brent crude gained $2.55 to $78.86.

"The main reason crude futures are up today is the weaker dollar. The greenback fell as money traders were selling the greenback in the face of better U.S. retail sales and business inventories," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at PFGBest Research in Chicago.

The U.S. dollar slipped against a basket of currencies .DXY after the United States and China failed to reach an agreement on currencies at an Asia Pacific summit ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to China.

Washington has said an undervalued yuan is contributing to trade imbalances between the United States and China. A weaker dollar typically supports commodities because dollar-priced contracts become cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

Further support came following strong U.S. retail sales data for last month, boosting optimism about the economy.

Energy markets have been looking to wider economic data for signs of a rebound that could boost fuel demand, which has been hard hit by the recession.

U.S. retail sales rose 1.4 percent in October, after a drop of 2.3 percent in September, mostly due to robust vehicle sales.

The positive consumer data outweighed a report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank showing that manufacturing activity in the state has slowed in November.

Wall Street rose to a 13-month high on Monday as commodity-related stocks, including oil and metals, lifted equities. .N

Despite climbing oil prices, OPEC's president, Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos, said Monday that the market was still oversupplied and that it was too early to make any changes to OPEC's output quotas.

(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos in New York, Chris Baldwin in London, Fayen Wong in Perth; Editing by David Gregorio)