NEW YORK (AP):

Oil and gasoline futures slid Monday, following Wall Street lower after a home sales report raised further concerns about economic growth in the United States.

Trading volumes were low, a function of the holiday week. Monday is a bank holiday in London, and the coming long weekendincludes the Labour Day holiday in the United States.

"There's a lack of interest right now," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.

Stocks fell after the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales fell for a fifth straight month in July to the slowest pace in nearly five years. That countered expectations for a slight increase and exacerbated concerns that the housing slump could lead to an overall economic slowdown.

Energy investors worry that a slower economy will demand less oil and gas.

"The downward pull is coming from the downturn in the equity markets," said Linda Rafield, senior oil analyst at Platts, the energy research arm of the McGraw-Hill Cos.

Decreasing

Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell 54 cents to US$70.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and September gasoline fell 1.01 cents to US$1.9713 a gallon.

In London, October Brent crude fell by 82 cents to US$69.80 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Nymex heating oil futures fell 2.81 cents to US$1.9691 a gallon, and September natural gas declined 24.6 cents to US$5.277 per 1,000 cubic feet.

"A lack of any tropical storm activity out there has certainly put a little downward pressure on the natural gas contract," Rafield said.

Natural gas prices and the rest of the energy complex rallied two weeks ago as Hurricane Dean formed and menaced the Gulf of Mexico and its gas and oil installations. But prices fell steeply last week after Dean largely missed the Gulf en route to central Mexico, where it weakened to a tropical depression.

Late last week, gasoline and oil prices jumped again on news of new refinery problems, including a report that Chevron Corp.'s Pascagoula, Mississippi, refinery, damaged by a fire in mid-August, was cancelling crude purchases.

Now, Flynn said, "a lot of those issues look like they're going to be solved here relatively quickly."

Analysts say the unusual number of maintenance problems and glitches refiners experienced thisspring caused May's record gasoline prices. Several weeks of rising refinery activity and gasoline inventory levels appeared to alleviate those concerns, and gasoline futures fell steeply over the last month. Even last week's refinery problems moved prices only temporarily. That's due largely to the fact that peak summer driving season ends in one week, analysts say.

Analysts blame speculators for record oil prices above US$78 a barrel in late July and early August, and say new data shows that investors are now pulling that money out of the market. Oil prices retreated below US$70 last week before rebounding slightly.

"The commodity funds have gone to the sidelines," Flynn said.