UPDATE 7-Oil edges up on weaker dollar, Wall St gains

                                
 * Weak dollar, Wall Street support oil prices
                                
 * U.S. bank plan, weak demand weigh
                                
 * Oil expected to average $77.50 in 2010 - Reuters poll
                                
 (Recasts, updates throughout, changes dateline from LONDON
previous)
                                
 By Rebekah Kebede
                                
 NEW YORK, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose slightly on
Monday, as the market weighed a weaker dollar and Wall Street's
higher open against continuing signs of weak demand.
                                
 Still, oil prices were near a one-month low of $74 a barrel
after having fallen by almost $10 a barrel over the last two
weeks since hitting a 15-month peak of $83.95 on Jan. 11.
                                
 U.S. crude for March delivery <CLc1> rose 12 cents to
$74.66 a barrel by 12:41 p.m. EST (1741 GMT). The contract fell
$1.54 to settle at $74.54 a barrel on Friday, the lowest
settlement since Dec. 22, after trading as low as $74.01.
                                
 London ICE Brent <LCOc1> rose 36 cents to $73.19.
                                
 "Crude and products futures are little changed in New York
this morning on moderate overnight volume as the weak dollar
supports the markets and prevents further selling," Addison
Armstrong, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford,
Connecticut, said in a research note.
                                
 The dollar was broadly weaker on Monday. A weak dollar
tends to support commodities priced in dollars as they become
cheaper for holders of other currencies. [USD/]
                                
 Wall Street opened higher on Monday after a three-day slide
at the end of last week, bolstered by the view that U.S.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may be confirmed for a
second term. [.N]
                                
 U.S. stocks pared their early gains slightly on data
showing sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell at the
fastest pace on record in December.[ID:nN25214275]
                                
 Despite Monday's support from oil prices, demand for oil
remains relatively weak in the wake of the financial crisis.
                                
 Milder weather in the U.S. Northeast, the world's top
heating oil market, will add to that weakness this week.
                                
 U.S. heating oil demand will be 2 percent below normal, a
report from the U.S. National Weather Service said.
[ID:nN25178954]
                                
 Oil prices have broken below the 100-day moving average of
around $75.25, a key indicator of market sentiment which
measures the average price of oil over the last three months.
                                
 U.S. crude oil is expected to rise to an average of $77.50
a barrel in 2010, a Reuters poll of 29 market analysts showed,
up from $76.40 a barrel in December. [O/POLL]
                                
 An oil spill in Texas' Sabine-Neche Waterway blocked
seaborne supplies to four Texas refineries representing 6.5
percent of U.S. capacity over the weekend. [ID:nN25142161]
                                
 Texas officials said the clean-up of the 11,000 barrels of
oil was underway. The spill is the biggest in Texas since
1994.
                                
 Separately, Mexico closed its Dos Bocas oil terminal on
Sunday due to bad weather, the government said. Almost all of
Mexico's crude oil exports are shipped to refineries on the
Gulf Coast of the United States. [ID:nWNA2421]
 (Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons in New York; David
Sheppard and Gwladys Fouche in London; Fayen Wong in Perth;
Editing by Marguerita Choy)