Oil hovers above $74 amid light holiday trading

Oil prices hovered above $74 a barrel today in Asia amid light trading volume for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 1 cent at $74.12 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.15 to settle at $74.13 on Friday.

Markets in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia were closed. Trading in the US is also closed today for the Presidents Day holiday.

Oil has crisscrossed the $75 a barrel level in recent months -- jumping to $84 last month before dropping to $69.59 earlier this month -- as investors eye weak crude demand from the US and Europe offset by growing consumption in developing countries such as China.

Traders are also closely watching the Greece debt crisis. Last week, the European Union signaled they would help Greece, but didn't give details about the assistance.

In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil rose 0.58 cent to $1.9247 a gallon, and gasoline was steady at $1.9308 a gallon. Natural gas held at $5.46 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude was down 1 cent at $72.89 on the ICE futures exchange.