US crude futures ended down more than $2 on Monday as investors feared recent high prices could slow economic growth and as China said it would make its currency more responsive to market forces.

Crude for June delivery settled down $2.63 at $69.41 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, June Brent crude shed $2.65 to $69.67 a barrel.

NYMEX June gasoline fell 12.45 cents to $2.054 per gallon, while June heating oil lost 10.17 cents to $1.945 a gallon.

China said on Monday that it would press ahead with reform of its currency regime with the aim of making the yuan more responsive to market forces.

The commitment coincided with the yuan's briefly strengthening beyond 8 per dollar for the first time since the central bank revalued it by 2.1 percent and freed it from a dollar peg last July.

"With the Chinese being more flexible with their currency, the assumption is that will slow their manufacturing a tad," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. "Oil is getting whacked today. If we close below $70, we could get down to the mid $60s later in the week."

The oil minister for Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, said on Monday high oil prices lead consumers to think twice before they spend.

"In general, when prices are high, people check their pockets," Ali al-Naimi said. "When they are lower, they open them."

The International Energy Agency said in a report on Friday that high prices were affecting energy use and cut its 2006 forecast for demand growth by 220,000 barrels per day to 1.25 million bpd.

The University of Michigan's US consumer sentiment index slumped to the lowest since Hurricane Katrina -- stirring worries that Americans may curb spending in the face of $3 gasoline.

But analysts said it's too early to forecast the end of high oil prices.

"The question on everyone's mind is whether or not it's over. Probably not. Crude prices could fall all the way to $60 and the chart would retain a constructive pattern," said John Kilduff, senior vice-president of energy risk management at Fimat USA.

Traders were looking ahead to Wednesday's government survey of US petroleum inventories. In a preliminary Reuters poll, analysts predicted that gasoline inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels last week amid lower demand and higher refinery production, while crude stocks fell 300,000 barrels.

Distillate stocks were seen up 1 million barrels, with refinery operations up 0.6 percentage point.

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