* Markets surge as worries over election outcome ease
* Brent, U.S. crude oil gain more than 3 pct each
* Copper up 1.5 pct; soy, wheat rise about 1 pct
* Robusta coffee hits 9-month low, bucking trend
By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Oil rallied its most in a month
on Tuesday and metals and crop prices rebounded from the
previous session’s declines as speculation that the U.S.
presidential election will produce a clear winner carried
financial markets to a higher close.
The dollar slipped against the euro and other major
currencies as investors bet the greenback had risen too far and
too fast recently, given the outlook for the U.S. economy and
problems in Europe. That bolstered the demand for
dollar-denominated commodities among holders of the euro.
Crude oil prices jumped more than 3 percent in both New York
and London. Some momentum for crude came from the rally in
energy stocks on Wall Street on bets that Republican challenger
Mitt Romney could pull an upset win on President Barack Obama in
the election. However gold prices jumped 2 percent on
bets that Obama would win a second term, which would encourage
the Federal Reserve to keep up its economic stimulus measures.
“The stock market is up and that’s helping crude,” said Mark
Waggoner, president at Excel Futures Inc. A clear election
result, no matter who won, would end political uncertainty that
had dogged markets for weeks, analysts said.
Benchmark Brent crude in London rose 3.1 percent, or
$3.34 to settle at $111.07 a barrel, its biggest one-day gain
since Oct 4. Brent jumped nearly 2 percent on Monday, rallying
from a two-month low.
In New York, U.S. crude settled up 3.6 percent, or
$3.06, at $88.71 a barrel. U.S. crude also ended higher on
Monday, but only after recovering from a near 4-month low.
Gasoline prices rose about 3 percent in New York, while
heating oil and natural gas gained some 2 percent.
The broad rally in energy came as the effort to restart the
New York Harbor energy network after Hurricane Sandy was
hampered by delayed reopening or further maintenance work at
refineries.
The 19-commodity Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index
settled up 2 percent. Every of the CRB’s components,
except for cotton, rose, giving the index its largest one-day
gain since Aug. 3.
The one market that bucked the global trend in commodities
— robusta coffee — was not listed on the CRB. Robusta
fell 1.7 percent in London trading, to a nine-month bottom of
$1,914 a tonne, weighed down by the prospect of a large harvest
in Vietnam.
COPPER UP ON BARGAIN HUNTING, WHEAT RISES FOR 2ND DAY
Copper prices finished nearly 1.5 percent higher as bargain
hunters were attracted by prices which had dropped to a
two-month low in the previous session.
The benchmark three-month copper contract in London
closed up $50 at $7,700 a tonne.
Also supporting copper was data showing the HSBC Purchasing
Managers Index for China’s services sector at a level that
indicated accelerating growth, despite coming off September’s
four-month high. China is the world’s largest buyer of
copper.
Wheat futures in Chicago rose 1.3 percent to settle at
$8.77 per bushel for a second straight day of gains due to
concerns about the poor condition of the just-planted winter
crop in the United States and weather trouble in major exporters
Australia and Argentina.
Soybean futures also rose in Chicago, by about 1
percent to above $15.16 a bushel, bouncing back from a two days
of falls that brought the market down by 3.6 percent in all.
Soybeans have tumbled more than 1 5 percent from the record they
hit in early September, although they have found support near
$15 a bushel.
Prices at 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT)
LAST/ NET PCT YTD
CLOSE CHG CHG CHG
US crude 0.00 0.00 0.0% -100.0%
Brent crude 111.00 3.27 3.0% 3.4%
Natural gas 3.617 0.000 0.0% 21.0%
US gold 1715.00 31.80 1.9% 9.5%
Gold 1716.34 1.00 0.1% 9.8%
US Copper 350.60 3.60 1.0% 2.0%
LME Copper 7700.00 50.00 0.7% 1.3%
Dollar 80.636 -0.114 -0.1% 0.6%
US corn 741.00 5.50 0.8% 14.6%
US soybeans 1516.75 12.50 0.8% 26.6%
US wheat 877.00 11.00 1.3% 34.4%
US Coffee 150.60 -0.30 -0.2% -34.0%
US Cocoa 2462.00 18.00 0.7% 16.7%
US Sugar 19.59 0.26 1.3% -15.7%
US silver 32.034 0.906 2.9% 14.8%
US platinum 1556.30 15.60 1.0% 10.8%
US palladium 620.15 17.15 2.8% -5.5%
