Oil prices soared last week on supply worries caused by a further drop in the US heating fuel stocks, fierce storms in the North Sea and the threat of a production cut by the OPEC. The Commodities Research Bureau's index of 17 commodities rose to 284.41 points on Friday from 281.16 a week earlier.
GOLD: Gold prices hit the lowest level for almost three months at the start of the week as the Palestinian presidential elections took place peacefully.
Gold fell to as low as 420 dollars per ounce at Monday's late fixing price, the lowest level since October 19.
"The peaceful passing of Palestines presidential elections has reduced some of gold's 'safe-haven' appeal," said James Moore, analyst for the specialist website TheBullionDesk.com.
Mahmud Abbas was declared the landslide victor of the Palestinian presidential election on January 10 and entrusted with the task of helping to secure peace in the Middle East following the death of Yasser Arafat late last year.
Gold futures were weighed down also by a firmer dollar.
The dollar's rise was "not as dramatic as it was last week when there was a huge turnaround... and consequently a huge fall in metals", Societe Generale analyst Stephen Briggs said.
On the London Bullion Market gold prices stood at 422.50 dollars per ounce at the fixing late on Friday, from 422.20 dollars a week earlier.
SILVER: Silver prices rebounded from a three-month trough as speculative funds re-entered the market.
"Silver has been stronger than I would have expected," Briggs said. "The fundamentals are lousy but the funds find it attractive and easy to deal with. They know that they have the power to move the market but I don't think the fundamentals justify a rise in silver prices," he added.
Silver prices rose to 6.630 dollars per ounce on Friday at the fixing from 6.460 a week earlier.
PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM: Platinum and palladium prices rose to the highest levels for one month, supported by buying from speculators.
Platinum reached as high as 862 dollars per ounce on Thursday, the highest level since December 7.
Palladium jumped to 192 dollars per ounce on Tuesday, the highest point since December 13.
"Palladium continues to find support from speculative players, holding around the 190-dollar level but continues to look vulnerable due to the metal's bearish fundamentals," said Moore at TheBullionDesk.com.
By Friday, platinum prices advanced to 853 dollars per ounce on the London Platinum and Palladium Market from 846 dollars a week earlier.
Palladium prices stood at 183 dollars per ounce compared with 182.50 dollars the previous week.
BASE METALS: Base metals prices rebounded from steep falls the week before.
"Broadly speaking, zinc and aluminium have performed better than the others, because the funds continue to think that it maybe their turn to rise as their fundamentals are improving," Briggs said.
Prices had slumped on average by 7.0 percent on January 4 on heavy speculative selling and a sharp dollar rebound.
By Friday, three-month copper prices edged up to 2,988 dollars per tonne on the London Metal Exchange against 2,983 dollars a week earlier.
Three-month aluminium prices rose to 1,826 dollars per tonne from 1,817.
Three-month nickel prices eased to 14,630 dollars per tonne from 14,775.
Three-month lead prices weakened to 881 dollars per tonne from 910.
Three-month zinc prices advanced to 1,233 dollars per tonne from 1,221.
Three-month tin prices climbed to 7,645 dollars per tonne from 7,580.
OIL: Oil prices shot to near six-week high points this week as traders fretted about supply disruptions with winter firmly underway in the northern hemisphere.
New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, closed Thursday at 48.04 dollars - the highest level since November 30.
The price of Brent North Sea crude oil for February closed at 45.00 dollars a barrel, also a six-week high point. World crude futures have risen by about six dollars, or 15 percent, since the start of the year.
The US Department of Energy reported distillates inventories - mostly heating fuel and diesel - rose by 1.9 million barrels to 123 million in the week ending January 7. But a breakdown of data showed that heating fuel stocks fell by 500,000 barrels to 49.16 million.
Strong storms in the North Sea meanwhile further disrupted output by Norway, the world's third-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Anglo-Dutch company Shell said it did not foresee opening its Norwegian platform Draugen before the weekend at the earliest.
Prior to the sea storms, Norwegian production had been hit already by technical problems.
Elsewhere, markets were nervous about a possible further output cut by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries when its members meet later this month.
"There's been some noise that OPEC wants to cut production again. This is causing a lot of nervousness at the moment," said Eswaran Ramasamy, a Singapore-based director for energy information provider Platts.
By Friday New York's light sweet crude for delivery in February soared to 48.10 dollars per barrel from 45.25 the previous week.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for February delivery jumped to 45 dollars per barrel from 42.55 a week earlier.
RUBBER: Rubber prices remained under pressure in the absence of any supply worries.
"The market is really failing to take off simply because there is a lot of material on the ground," said one London trader.
"It is purely down to fundamentals. There appears to be a plentiful supply across the region and it is very difficult for people to ignore that."
In Osaka, the RSS 3 February contract dropped to 122 US cents on Friday from 127.60 a week earlier. Singapore's RSS 3 February contract was unchanged at 117 cents.
COCOA: Cocoa prices held steady, failing to draw much support from a weaker dollar and desert winds blowing across Ivory Coast's cocoa belt.
"Neither a falling dollar or the threat of adverse Harmattan winds provided the support we expected - in fact, the dollar firmed and Sodexam, the Ivory Coast weather institute, said the Harmattan winds did not (so far) pose a threat," said Refco analyst Ann Prendergast.
On LIFFE, London's futures exchange, the price of cocoa for March delivery fell to 828 pounds per tonne on Friday from 833 a week earlier.
On the CSCE, the New York futures market, the March contract stood at 1,499 dollars per tonne on Friday, from 1,504 the previous week.
COFFEE: Coffee prices rebounded back above the symbolic 1.0-dollar mark in New York as speculative funds turned buyers again on prospects for a weaker Brazilian harvest.
Currency movements favoured US futures, with the London market failing to keep pace.
"Dollar weakness in response to a larger than expected the US trade deficit invited European buying," said Prendergast.
"Fundamentals remain strongly bullish and the outlook extremely volatile: Brazilian production is expected to decline coming into the always uncertain spring season."
Last month, coffee futures hit the highest level for four and a half years in New York on huge buying by speculative funds, who anticipate a production deficit for the 2005/06 season.
On New York's CSCE market, Arabica for March delivery rose to 100.00 cents per pound on Friday, from 98.20 the previous week.
On LIFFE, Robusta quality for March delivery slipped to 721 dollars per tonne on Friday from 730 a week earlier.
COTTON: Cotton prices reached the highest level for three months as speculative interest remained solid amid the prospect of a world supply deficit in 2005/06.
In New York prices reached 47.30 cents a pound on Monday, the highest level since October 20.
Even forecasts of bumper harvest failed to dampen speculators' enthusiasm.
The US Department of Agriculture revised upwards its forecast for the 2004/05 harvest to 115.6 million bales, which would be 17 percent higher than the 2001/02 record.
New York's March contract stood at 45.75 cents per pound on Friday compared with 45.55 a week earlier.
The Cotton Outlook Index of physical cotton rose to 51.60 cents from 49.50 the previous week.
GRAINS AND SOYA: Grain prices saw mixed fortunes once again as traders digested several US government reports and floods in the United States.
Maize was the weakest performer after the US Department of Agriculture published better-than-expected US production in 2004 of 299.92 million tonnes.
Fimat analyst Dan Cekander said markets were monitoring also the impact of heavy rains in the United States on the transportation of grains.
There were "tremendous logistical problems", he said, owing to "high water problems in all waterways".
On LIFFE, wheat for March delivery was quoted at 66.00 pounds per tonne on Friday from 65.65 pounds the previous week.
In Chicago, the price of wheat for March delivery stood at 305.25 cents per bushel Friday from 309 a week earlier.
Maize for March delivery rose to 198.50 cents per bushel on Friday from 208 the previous Friday.
Soyabeans for January delivery firmed to 553 cents per bushel Thursday from 548 the previous week.
January-dated soyabean meal - used in animal feed - stood at 167.50 dollars per tonne compared with 158.80.
SUGAR: Sugar futures remained range-bound as speculation about possible Indian orders swirled around the market, analysts said.
The market "focused on possible Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi demand," said analysts at the Sucden brokerage firm.
India has bought up to 400,000 tonnes of raw sugar since the start of the year, and Pakistan is seeking raw sugar, they quoted market sources as saying.
By Friday on LIFFE, the price of a tonne of white sugar for March delivery stood at 260.50 dollars on Friday from 259 a week earlier.
On the CSCE in New York, a pound of unrefined sugar for March delivery was traded at 8.80 cents on Friday from 8.97 the previous week.
WOOL: Wool prices picked up as trading resumed after the year end break.
"Trade reports say that the mood in the room was good with plenty of competition, particularly in the better styled wools on offer," the Australian Wool Industries Secretariat said in a weekly market report.
The Australian Eastern index rose to 7.46 Australian dollars per kilo from 7.43 dollars before the break. The British Wooltops index was unchanged at 392 pence.
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