In line with the pounding of equity markets after U. S. regulators filed suit against Goldman Sachs, Crude oil prices headed lower on Monday.

Alleging it sold securities that were secretly stacked against the buyer, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Goldman Sachs.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 125 points.

On Monday, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan dropped 1.74 percent and the Shanghai composite index in China plunged 4.79 percent. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropped 2.1 percent and the Sensex in India fell 1.08 percent.

In Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Sweden, stocks closed lower.

While the dollar index rose 0.11 percent, U. S. markets were mixed.

The price for a barrel of May delivery crude, after a brief recovery, lost $1.25 Monday to $81.99 per barrel.

Heating oil prices for May delivery fell 0.0554 cents to $2.1615 per gallon.

Loosing 0.012 cents, reformulated gasoline blend-stock prices for May went down to 2.265 per gallon.

Henry Hub natural gas prices dropped 0.085 cents to $3.954 per million British thermal units.

According to the reports of AAA, at the pump, the national average price for unleaded gasoline was $2.862 per gallon Monday, down from Sunday's $2.865. (With Inputs from Agencies)