UPDATE 8-Oil rises to $75 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)
                                
 By Rebekah Kebede
                                
 NEW YORK, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose to $75 a
barrel on Monday as support from a weaker dollar and higher
U.S. stocks outweighed pressure from 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 48 cents to
$75.02 a barrel by 2:04 p.m. EST (1902 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 61 cents to $73.44.
                                
 "Crude is having a bounce after being down last week, with
the stock market recovery, Bernanke and the weaker dollar all
in the mix," said Tom Bentz analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity
Futures Inc in New York.
                                
 The U.S. dollar index was 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]
                                
 News of a fire at a Louisiana refinery on Friday and an oil
spill in Texas' Sabine-Neche Waterway may have also supported
the energy complex, traders said.
                                
 The Texas oil spill 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]
                                
 Despite Monday's higher 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]
 (Additional reporting by Robert Gibbons and Gene Ramos in New
York; David Sheppard and Gwladys Fouche in London; Fayen Wong
in Perth; Editing by Marguerita Choy)