Oil prices eased further Monday amid profit taking on stronger US dollar and as concerns over gasoline supply triggered by a Texas refinery blast faded.
U.S. light crude dropped 41 cents to $54.43 a barrel, losing part of last Thursday's $1.03 gain. Prices are still about $3 below the all-time peak of $57.60 on March 17.
"The funds have started to liquidate the long positions that they have built over the past week," said Keichi Sano, assistant manager at Sumitomo Corp.'s commodity business unit.
Speculative funds raised their net length in the U.S. crude oil market slightly last week, still shy of the eight-week high from two weeks ago, but boosted their holdings in gasoline to the highest level in just over a year, U.S. regulatory data showed.
The dollar hit a six-week high against the yen and the euro on Monday on expectations that U.S. interest rates would rise at a faster pace. It was the dollar's eighth-straight day of gains versus the yen.
