By Jerry A. DiColo Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Crude oil futures rose Wednesday, helped by a sharp rise in the euro against the dollar. Light, sweet crude for November delivery recently traded 93 cents, or 1.2%, higher at $75.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 34 cents higher at $78.76 a barrel. The dollar is down against the euro and yen, offering some support for oil by making the commodity cheaper for buyers using other currencies. The euro was recently up 0.9% against the greenback, rising to $1.3390 after hitting its highest price in more than a month. "More attention from the oil trade appears to be drifting toward the currency factor where a continued strong euro is demanding increased focus," said Jim Ritterbusch, head of Ritterbusch and Associates, which tracks the market. The dollar's drop followed the announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve Tuesday that the central bank isn't comfortable with the current low levels of inflation, and suggestions from the Fed that it is still open to additional quantitative easing to help the economic recovery. Oil prices have been guided by other financial markets in recent months, reacting to foreign exchange rates and often moving in tandem with equities markets that serve as a proxy for future economic growth. But crude has been unable to keep up with the rally this month in the stock market, as traders are wary of oil moving too far out of its recent trading range due to mixed economic data and worries about demand. "The one thing that is pretty clear, the market has found a pretty nice value area between $72 and $78 a barrel, and for it to drive out of there we're going to have to see some more bullish factors that right now are pretty muddled," said Gene McGillian, a broker and analyst with Tradition Energy. High supplies have also weighed on futures, with U.S. stockpiles of oil and oil products reaching the highest levels in 27 years earlier this month. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group, said in its weekly data late Tuesday that crude stockpiles rose by 2.2 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17. Gasoline stocks rose by 2.4 million barrels, while distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, saw a 2.5-million-barrel increase. Investors are awaiting more closely-watched inventory data from the Department of Energy, due at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect crude inventories will fall by 1.7 million barrels. Gasoline is seen dropping by 400,000 barrels, while distillates are expected to show a 200,000-barrel drop. Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently traded 1.07 cents, or 0.5%, higher at $1.9303 a gallon. October heating oil recently traded 0.91 cents higher at $2.1290 a gallon. -By Jerry A. DiColo, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2155; jerry.dicolo@dowjones.com.

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