SINGAPORE, March 9 (Reuters)- Oil prices fell on Wednesday as OPEC considered raising production, pushing up Asian stocks although investors remained on edge due to worries that unrest in the Middle East could spread to other oil exporting nations.
The euro nursed heavy losses early in Asia as worries about European sovereign debt problems tightened their grip following the recent credit rating downgrade for Greece.
* Brent crude for April delivery fell $1.98 to settle at $113.06 a barrel, having fallen as low as $112.13. U.S. crude futures for April delivery fell 42 cents to settle at $105.02 a barrel, above an early $103.33 low.
* Failure to break through resistance above $1.40 also prompted investors to trim long euro/dollar positions, sending the common currency to a low around $1.3860 overnight. It last traded at $1.3881.
* With the euro on the back foot, the dollar rose against a basket of major currencies. The dollar index rose to 76.776, pulling away from a four-month low of 76.124 set on Monday.
* The benchmark Nikkei rose 0.8 percent, or 82.04 points, to 10,607.23. The broader Topix index gained 0.8 percent to 946.99.
* U.S. stocks rallied as crude prices retreated after hitting a 2-1/2-year high on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 124.35 points, or 1.03 percent, to 12,214.38, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 11.69 points, or 0.89 percent, to 1,321.82.
* Spot gold was barely changed at $1,427.80 an ounce by 0024 GMT, off a record high of $1,444.40 an ounce struck on Monday.
Oil prices fell after Kuwait's oil minister said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was considering a supply boost as war-torn Libya's output remained disrupted and the region's unrest fuelled concerns about more supplies being cut off.
An official oil output increase by OPEC would signal the group's determination to cap prices, but continued violence in Libya has left investors jittery.
The euro has fallen against the dollar as concerns about the debt situation of peripheral euro zone countries increased with expectations of an interest rate hike by the European Central Bank next month.
A rise in interest rates would push up borrowing costs across the 17-country euro zone, increasing the cost of funding for highly indebted countries.
Concerns about Europe's debt problems have been on the rise since Moody's cut Greece's credit ratings by three notches on Monday, signaling more downgrades are on the way. (Writing by Sugita Katyal; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)