RTRS:UPDATE 1-Brent rises on weaker dollar, forecast fall in U.S. oil stocks
* Brent gains to as much as $116.50; U.S. oil tops $96.38
* U.S. crude stocks likely fell for a seventh week -poll
* IEA unlikely to announce emergency stock release in meeting
* Coming Up: US API oil stocks data, 2030 GMT (Adds details on China's fuel stocks, updates prices)
By Seng Li Peng
SINGAPORE, July 19 (Reuters) - Brent crude rose 15 cents to $116.20 a barrel on Tuesday, reversing the previous session's losses, as the dollar weakened and on expectations oil stocks in the world's top consumer U.S. fell for a seventh week.
Brent LCOc1 rose as high as $116.50 a barrel after settling at $116.05 in the previous session. U.S. crude CLc1 edged up 4 cents to $95.97 at 0553 GMT, after losing $1.31 to settle at $95.93 on Monday.
The twin factors helped divert investor attention away from a sovereign debt default in the U.S. and Europe that partly led to Brent settling $1.21 a barrel lower on Monday. The weaker dollar also helped boost prices of commodities such as copper.
"The weakening dollar is pretty much all I can say" is the reason for the rise in Brent, said Benson Wang of Commodity Broking Services in Sydney.