October 01, 2006	Sunday	Ramazan 7, 1427

LONDON, Sept, 30: World oil prices see-sawed this week, dunking $60 per barrel on weakening supply worries, before bobbing above $64 as concerns resurfaced over Iran.

Among soft commodities, wheat struck a nine-year high, while sugar hit multi-month low points.

On Friday, the Commodities Research Bureau's index of 17 commodities rose to 304.47 points, compared with 304.10 points the previous week.

GOLD: Gold climbed above $600 per ounce on resurgent investment demand following recent price falls.

The precious metal reached $607.30 on Thursday, the highest level since September 11.

However, gold has still shed some 18 per cent in value since reaching a 26-year peak of $730.40 in May.

Fund players took advantage of the dip (and) physical buying interest emerged, noted James Moore, an analyst for specialist website TheBullionDesk.com.

On the London Bullion Market, gold prices rose to $599.25 per ounce at Friday's late fixing, from $589 one week earlier.

SILVER: Silver prices climbed in line with other metals.

Silver hit $11.77 per ounce in London trade on Thursday -- the highest point since September 11.

For the moment, silver should find support at $11.40, Moore said.

Meanwhile at a conference on gold held in Denver, the United States, on Monday the chief executive of Goldcorp, Ian Telfer, predicted that silver had the potential to be more explosive than gold, with prices hitting $20 per ounce in the next two years.

On the London Bullion Market, silver prices gained to $11.55 per ounce at Friday's fixing, from $11.28 the previous week.

BASE METALS: Base metal prices mostly firmed, with shrinking stockpiles helping to offset concerns over weaker US economic growth.

There is still considerable concern over the health of the US economy, said William Adams, an analyst at specialist website BaseMetals.com.

We are about to enter a period of potential strikes as labour contracts come up for renewal, he noted.

On Friday, three-month copper prices stood at $7,580 per ton on the London Metal Exchange from $7,637 the previous week.

Three-month aluminium prices gained to $2,587 per ton from $2,535.50.

Three-month nickel prices rose to $28,800 per ton from $28,200.

Three-month lead prices increased to $1,400 per ton from $1,388.

Three-month zinc prices fell to $3,346 per ton from $3,455.

Three-month tin prices stood at $9,000 per ton, unchanged from a week earlier.

OIL: Global crude futures sank to fresh six-month lows as tensions initially eased over Iran, and energy giant BP said it would resume output at Prudhoe Bay, which accounts for 8.0 per cent of US oil production.

On Monday, New York crude had plunged to $59.52 -- the lowest value since March 8 -- while London Brent had touched a low of $59.32 -- also last seen March 8.

The market was calmed also by large weekly increases to US stockpiles of distillates and motor fuel.

The US Department of Energy had said Wednesday that reserves of gasoline or petrol showed an increase of 6.3 million barrels to 213.9 million in the week to September 22.

That was almost six times analysts' consensus forecasts.

Inventories of distillates, used for heating oil and diesel fuel, jumped by 2.6 million barrels to 151.3 million -- nearing an eight-year high -- compared with forecasts of a gain of 2.5 million.

Ahead of the northern hemisphere winter, traders' focus is on the level of distillate inventories, which include heating fuel.

However, supply worries resurfaced Thursday over the Iranian nuclear energy crisis, and as traders questioned whether oil cartel OPEC might slash output to stem price falls.

New York crude had climbed briefly above $64 on Thursday for the first time since September.

The market went on to shrug off an announcement Friday by OPEC that two of its members, Nigeria and Venezuela, will reduce their outputs from Sunday.

Dealers meanwhile added that the market found support at the 60-dollar mark.

“There's pretty good psychological support at 60 so people tend to buy on the dip,” noted Societe Generale analyst Deborah White.

In London, a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November increased to $61.42 per barrel, from $61.20.

RUBBER: Rubber prices rebounded on output concerns ahead of the rainy season in Asian-producing countries.

“With the rainy season not too far away, there's some anticipation in the market which has caused them (traders) to be a bit a bit more cautious with the pricing,” Corrie MacColl analyst Rashid Ahmed said.

On TOCOM, Tokyo's commodity exchange, natural rubber for February delivery increased to 213.70 yen per kilogramme on Friday, from 204.80 yen a week earlier.

COCOA: Cocoa prices retreated, despite tensions in Ivory Coast.

Once a model of prosperity and stability in west Africa, the world's top cocoa producer and former French colony has been split into a rebel-held north and a government-controlled south since a brief civil war that broke out in 2002 when rebels tried to topple President Laurent Gbagbo.

COFFEE: Prices rose strongly, supported “by talk that a typhoon could hit Vietnam just before the new harvest in November”, Sucden analyst Michael Davies said.

Vietnam is the world's second biggest exporter of coffee after Brazil.

On LIFFE, Robusta quality for November delivery jumped to $1,555 per ton on Friday, from $1,461 a week earlier.

SUGAR: Sugar prices fell to the lowest levels for eight months in London and 13 months in New York, as supplies outstrip demand.

On Monday in London, sugar struck $360.10 per ton -- the lowest point since January 2006.

The same day in New York, prices hit 9.70 US cents per pound -- last seen in August 2005.

Sugar slid “on the back of commodity fund selling triggered by concerns about low physical demand and plentiful world supplies,” Davies said.

By Friday on LIFFE, the price of a tonne of white sugar for December delivery declined to $372.50, from $385.80 a week earlier.

On NYBOT, the price of unrefined sugar for October delivery dropped to 10.35 US cents per pound, from 11.25 cents.

COTTON: Prices fell as traders watched over US weather conditions and the rate of Chinese buying.

On the NYBOT, the December contract slipped to 51.26 US cents per pound on Friday, from 51.70 US cents a week earlier.

The Cotton Outlook Index of physical cotton slid to 58.45 US cents on Thursday, from 58.85 cents the previous week.

WOOL: Wool prices unwound on news of plentiful supplies in Australia, the world's biggest exporter of the commodity.

A record 67,430 bales of wool were placed on the Australian market this week -- but just 15.7 per cent of those were sold, according to the Australian Wool Industries Secretariat.

The Eastern index fell to 7.39 Australian dollars per kilo on Thursday, from 7.52 the previous week.

The British Wooltops index stood at 392 pence on Thursday, from 399 pence the previous Thursday.---AFP