By Gurdeep Singh Crude-oil futures rose in Asian hours Friday, helped by a weaker U.S. dollar after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi suggested the bank is willing to restart its bond-buying program to help ease the euro-zone financial crisis. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $90.05 a barrel at 0716 GMT, up $0.66 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose $0.94 to $106.20 a barrel. In a speech in London, Mr. Draghi gave his strongest signal to date that the central bank is poised to undertake massive bond purchases in the euro-zone bond market if the debt crisis worsens. "The ECB is willing to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro," he said. The comments pushed up Asian equities as well as the euro, giving crude oil a lift despite largely bearish U.S. oil inventory data this week. A weaker U.S. dollar typically drives crude higher as it makes the dollar-denominated commodity cheaper to buyers holding other currencies. The ICE Dollar Index was recently at 82.775 compared with 82.859 overnight. Still, market participants are likely to remain cautious in the short term given the fact that in recent months relief rallies resulting from positive developments in the euro-zone crisis have all been short-lived, analysts said. "Just because the ECB is ready to fix the euro that does not mean it is capable of doing so," analyst Stephen Schork said in the Schork Report. Crude-oil prices may see more upside support from a weaker U.S. dollar amid rising hopes of further quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for August--the benchmark gasoline contract--rose 261 points to $2.8399 a gallon, while August heating oil traded at $2.8884, 199 points higher. ICE gasoil for August changed hands at $912.75 a metric ton, up $7.25 from Thursday's settlement. Write to Gurdeep Singh at gurdeep.singh@dowjones.com

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