UPDATE 8-Oil hits 2009 high above $74 on economic optimism

                                
 * Fed Chairman Bernanke says world economy recovering
                                
 * U.S. July existing home sales jump
                                
 * U.S. crude touches $74.72, high for 2009
                                
 (Adds detail throughout, updates prices, changes dateline
from LONDON)
                                
 By Edward McAllister
                                
 NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Oil rose more than $1 to trade
above $74 a barrel on Friday as data in the United States
promised economic recovery and a potential revival in energy
demand.
                                
 Home sales data for July showed recovery in the U.S.
housing market, while Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
said that the global economy appears to be on the mend.
                                
 U.S. crude for October delivery <CLc1> was up $1.17 to
$74.08 a barrel at 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT), after briefly
touching $74.72, its highest of the year. London Brent crude
for October <LCOc1> was up 83 cents at $74.16.
                                
 Oil is on track for a 7.3 percent gain this week, and was
last at this level on Oct. 21, 2008 when it closed at $75.22 a
barrel on its way down from a record peak above $147.
                                
 The dollar pared losses against the euro, helping to
pressure oil off earlier highs as investors sought the safer
haven of the dollar, away from commodities.
                                
 "Crude was up a lot when the dollar was down and now the
dollar has backed off its lows and so crude is off its highs,"
said Tom Knight, a trader at Truman Arnold in Texarkana,
Texas.
                                
 "On balance, I see crude remaining on the upside if
equities hold up their gains," he added.
                                
 Ben Bernanke told a Fed conference on Friday that the
global economy was mending, though critical challenges remain
and recovery is likely to be sluggish. [ID:nN2139655]
                                
 U.S. equities rose on Friday, sending the S&P 500 index to
a 10-month intraday high on economic optimism. [.N]
                                
 Another boon for optimism came from the U.S. National
Association of Realtors, which said on Friday that sales of
previously owned homes jumped 7.2 percent in July, the fastest
sales pace in nearly two years. [ID:nN21378170]
                                
 U.S. highway travel was up 2 percent in June compared with
a year ago, rising 4.9 billion miles to 256.7 billion miles,
the U.S. Transportation Department said on Friday.   
[ID:nN2142531]
                                
 TIGHTER REGULATION
                                
 Tighter regulation of the energy market may take the edge
off high prices, Commerzbank said in note on Thursday.
[ID:nLK66847]
                                
 "The significant rise in the oil price in the first half of
the year is due in large part to a recovery in investment by
financial investors," analyst Eugen Weinberg at Commerzbank
wrote in their Commodities Spotlight Energy newsletter.
                                
 "If their influence is reduced by the (Commodity Futures
Trading Commission's) actions and sanity prevails, the oil
price will fall."
                                
 The CFTC is widely expected to introduce stricter position
limits for non-physical investors in commodities before the end
of 2009. [ID:nCFTCREG]
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons in New
York, Chris Baldwin in London)