Commodities Cap Biggest Gain in Week

Commodities capped their biggest gain in a week as industrial metals and energy rebounded on speculation that European leaders are moving closer to a deal to contain the region’s debt crisis.

The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 raw materials rose 1 percent to close at 630.63 at 15:45 p.m. New York time, after slipping to a one-week low yesterday. Copper jumped as much as 7.2 percent, and crude oil rose for the first time in three days. The dollar fell to a post-World War II low against the yen and dropped versus most currencies.

“Optimism is driving the dollar lower and boosting all commodities,” Scott Gardner, the chief investment officer at Verdmont Capital SA in Panama, said in an e-mail. He helps manage $450 million in client assets.

European finance ministers began a six-day negotiation in Brussels over how to save Greece from default, shield banks from the fallout and build more powerful defenses against the debt crisis. As much as 940 billion euros ($1.3 trillion) might be deployed, two people familiar with the discussions said yesterday.

Still, the GSCI gauge was down 1.1 percent for the week on concern that Europe’s debt crisis will cripple global economic growth, curbing demand for raw materials.

Copper futures for December delivery rose 5.4 percent to settle at $3.223 a pound on the Comex, the biggest gain for a most-active contract since June 1, 2009.

Crude-oil futures for December delivery jumped 1.6 percent to $87.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yi Tian in New York at ytian8@bloomberg.net; Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net