Commodities market takes another bashing

The grim outlook on the global economy arising from uncertainties over the full extent of the financial crisis in the United States has sent global commodities markets into a tailspin, with many futures contracts on the Shanghai exchange yesterday dropping to their daily limits.

Contract prices of copper, zinc and natural rubber on the Shanghai market dropped for the second consecutive day to their daily limits, with the most actively traded copper contract for delivery in December closing at 48,640 yuan per ton, the zinc contract for the same month at 12,845 yuan and natural rubber for delivery in January 2009 at 17,045 yuan.

Gold futures bucked the trend by surging more than 4 percent to 192 yuan per gram on the Shanghai bourse, due to a rush of investment funds seeking refuge in the precious metal from the tumult of capital markets across the world. Economists and analysts said the fallout of the worsening US financial crisis deepened investors' worries about a global economic recession that could seriously reduce international demand for raw materials.