TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures remained more than $3 lower than Friday's close Monday after falling sharply in early Asian trading in response to Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S.'s credit rating. Crude will likely test further multimonth lows in London and New York, as traders take cues from share prices, analysts said. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $83.47 a barrel at 0639 GMT, down $3.41 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $3.27 to $106.10 a barrel. A test of $80 "is likely," given the bleak outlook for the U.S. economy, said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, an analyst at brokerage Nihon Unicom. "These days, Nymex crude has been tracking [the] Dow Jones Industrial Average. So, how far crude's price falls depends on" the DJIA's performance. Daiichi Shohin analyst Koichi Murakami said traders should be especially careful around the times that London and New York stock markets open. Over the longer term, rising demand from emerging economies will support prices, many analysts said. "We may see Nymex crude dipping below $80 briefly, but I don't see it going much lower," said Koichiro Kamei, an analyst at the Market Strategy Institute, an investment consultancy. Kamei cited demand from emerging countries like China and India, which he said is still growing. Goldman Sachs said in a report issued Monday that oil's price fall is "a good opportunity for consumers to begin to hedge their forward oil exposure" on expectations of "world economic growth continuing to drive oil demand growth." Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for September--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 742 points to $2.7310 a gallon, while September heating oil traded at $2.8725, 692 points lower. ICE gasoil for August changed hands at $900.00 a metric ton, down $12.50 from Friday's settlement. -By Mari Iwata, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2798; mari.iwata@dowjones.com

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