LONDON (Commodity Online) : Global oil prices extended gains in early European trade Monday as a weaker dollar encourages investors to buy oil as a hedge against inflation.

Light sweet crude for October delivery was seen trading at $68.69 a barrel at 11.00 a.m London time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude oil for October settlement was at $67.76 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.



The dollar traded at $1.4345 against the euro, from $1.4297 on Sept. 4. A weaker dollar encourages investors to buy oil as a hedge against inflation.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations left weekend talks in London having pledged to shore up the international financial system with tighter regulation.

Oil futures posted a 6.5 percent decline last week, the biggest since the week ended July 10. Prices dropped as a slump in equity prices rattled investor confidence in the global recovery and as gasoline futures fell.

There’s no floor trading on the exchange Monday because of the Labor Day holiday in the U.S., which marks the end of the so-called summer driving season.

OPEC, which pumps about 40 percent of the world’s oil, cut output by 4.2 million barrels a day between September and December to prevent a glut amid the global recession.

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