COMMODITIES

Copper prices jumped above $2,350 a ton on the London Metal Exchange for the first time since 4 June, a week before Sumitomo announced massive losses that it blamed on unauthorised dealing by its former chief trader, Yasou Hamanaka. Inventories are expected to shrink during the next quarter, a period which normally sees more copper consumed than in any other as the spring construction season starts. On Monday, Hamanaka, known as "Mr Copper," pleaded guilty to fraud and forgery in a Tokyo court.

Aluminium prices climbed 3.8 per cent as LME stockpiles sunk to 908,225 tons, a six-month low. World daily aluminium output rose 57,600 tons, the International Primary Aluminium Institute said.

Brent crude oil futures fell below $20 a barrel for the first time in six months, as traders bet cheaper Iraqi oil supplies will flood the US, where demand has weakened with warmer weather.

Coffee prices soared to a 23-month high in New York after the Green Coffee Association reported that US bean inventories were 37 per cent smaller at the end of January than they were a year earlier. Copyright: IOS & Bloomberg