Glittering times ahead for commodity firms

SINGAPORE: Commodity markets saw their strongest year in 2009 since 1973, lifted by oil's biggest gains in a decade and a 140 percent surge in copper prices.

The Reuters/Jefferies CRB index rose nearly 24 percent in 2009, while gold saw its ninth increase in as many years. Sugar soared to record highs and cocoa peaked in what traders described as "the year of commodities".

But the strategies that worked in 2009 may fail this year as the market switches from picking up bargains left in the wake of the financial market meltdown that started in 2008 to a strategy based on macro economic data and fundamentals.