A stronger U. S. dollar was not able to affect crude oil prices, which remained higher Asia Money, since traders were sure that expectations of stronger global oil demand would be raised by upcoming economic data due later this week.

David Moore, commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said, "The expectations are that the data are generally going to confirm and be consistent with the economic-recovery story."

Moore explained that most likely, traders will take cues this week from the release of ISM manufacturing and payrolls data due in the U. S. and PMI manufacturing data due in China.

Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $80.6 a barrel at 0710 GMT, up $0.60 in the Globex electronic session, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A hike by $0.62 to $79.91 a barrel was seen in May Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange.

He specified further, that there was a plunge to 27% in the implied volatility for front-month crude and this drop was the lowest he had ever seen in years.

Gasoline blendstock for April, the benchmark gasoline contract, was reformulated by Nymex, in which there was hike by 103 points to $2.21 a gallon, while April heating oil traded at $2.08, 124 points higher.

ICE gasoil for April changed hands at $666.25 a metric ton, up $6.00 from Friday's settlement.