| May 23, 2006
LONDON - Gold, oil and copper prices rose on Tuesday, with copper recording its biggest ever one-day gain and nickel touching a record high as investors returned after last week's sell-off.
"We've had a complete reversal of the last week's trading and we've seen oil heavily bought and gold has recovered," a London Metal Exchange trader said.
"Momentum is so strong you cannot step in the way," he said.
Gold
By 1615 GMT copper
U.S. crude oil futures
"It's important we look at the whole commodities story. For example, if oil gets above $75 and gold through $700 then copper is likely to make new highs," a fund source said.
Coffee futures were also picked up by the wave of speculative money returning to commodities and the benchmark July contract
"It's not really coffee, in the same way that (the sugar price) it's not really sugar -- it's nearly all about what the commodities funds are doing," another trader said earlier in the day.
HURRICANE, VENEZUELA LIFT OIL
Crude oil prices were strengthened by a U.S. government forecast that an active hurricane season could threaten rigs and refineries again this year and by talk in Venezuela of the need for an OPEC output cut.
The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index <.CRB>, a basket of 19 commodity futures, had edged up by 1.5 percent to 349.42 on Monday after its weakest performance in decades last week. It hit a life high of 365.45 on May 11.
Many commodities had retreated from multi-year peaks earlier this month as investment funds moved to reduce their positions in commodities.
Established markets like London's FTSE 100 <.FTSE> turned higher on Tuesday, rising 2.64 percent as the appetite for riskier investments diminished and investors switched money back to traditional assets.
Mining shares have been the big winners from the boom in commodity prices. BHP Billiton, along with other mining shares, including Rio Tinto
