SINGAPORE?Crude prices rose in Asian trade Monday, helped by a weakening US dollar and indications from oil cartel Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that it was satisfied with current prices, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, gained $0.28 to $75.75 a barrel in the afternoon.

Brent North Sea crude for January delivery advanced $0.38 cents to $77.90 a barrel.

Oil markets were buoyed by the weakening greenback, analysts said.

"The US dollar has weakened against the euro... so the financial factors therefore support oil rising," said Victor Shum, senior principal of Purvin and Gertz energy consultants in Singapore.

The euro was trading at $1.4880 from $1.4852 late Friday in New York.

Indications from the OPEC it was not going to cut production quotas at a December 22 conference was also "a factor" pushing prices up, Shum added.

"The chatter out of OPEC is that they are happy with the current pricing, there's going to be no increase in production," he said.

Saudi Arabia stated over the weekend that oil prices were "perfect" and the global market was stable as Arab heavyweights in the OPEC cartel appeared united in their support for maintaining production quotas.

"Everything is so good now, we don't have to think very hard," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said in Cairo, reflecting an agreement among OPEC members to keep production quotas unchanged at the conference.