World oil prices surged to ten-month highs last week on global supply concerns, while lead hit a new all-time peak and cocoa struck the highest point for four years owing to unrest in Ivory Coast.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, hit 72.94 dollars - the highest level since August 25. In southern Nigeria, gunmen who kidnapped a three-year-old British girl have threatened to kill her - unless her father takes her place, her mother said on Friday, as unrest continued to blight Africa's biggest crude producer.
Prices have also found support after the US Department of Energy revealed on Thursday that American gasoline or petrol reserves were about 4.2 percent below their level at the same time last year. BNP Paribas analyst Harry Tchilinguirian said fresh violence in Nigeria has been bullish for prices because Nigerian crude has a high gasoline content.
"If you look at what is happening in the US right now, you see that gasoline inventories are relatively low, and refineries there are having trouble coming of maintenance because of unplanned outages. "So it's a low gasoline situation, and you are also removing from the market crudes which have a high gasoline content, so people are going to turn to the next alternative - and that's Brent."
The Brent oil price is just a few dollars off its record high of 78.64 dollars, struck at the start of August 2006, after a pipeline spill forced Britain's BP to close production from Prudhoe Bay, the biggest oil field in the United States. But New York crude has some ground to go before reaching its historic peak of 78.40 dollars per barrel, set in mid-July 2006, when violence erupted between Israel and Lebanon.
"What is key is the fact that you don't have that much spare crude production capacity in the system," Tchilinguirian added. "Any further geopolitical event that comes close to impacting supplies is going to push the price higher."
The United States is currently facing its peak-demand driving season, as American drivers take to the roads en masse for their holidays. Brent North Sea crude for August delivery jumped to 75.56 dollars a barrel on Friday, from 71.00 dollars a barrel a week earlier. New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, rallied to 72.90 dollars a barrel, from 70.25 dollars a barrel.
On the London Bullion Market, gold dropped to 648.75 dollars an ounce at Friday's late fixing, from 650.50 dollars a week earlier.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum jumped to 1,287 dollars an ounce at the late fixing Friday, from 1,273 dollars a week earlier. Palladium fell to 363 dollars an ounce, from 365 dollars.
Elsewhere, copper futures jumped 4.0 percent to reach a near two-month high of 7,876 dollars a tonne, "underpinned by a weaker dollar, continuous supply threats and declining stocks," Sucden analyst Michael Davies said. On Friday, the price of copper for delivery in three months soared to 7,816 dollars a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, from 7,520 dollars a week earlier.
Three-month aluminium prices rose to 2,791 dollars a tonne, from 2,736 dollars. Three-month nickel prices eased to 35,510 dollars a tonne, from 35,810 dollars. Three-month lead prices rocketed to 2,835 dollars a tonne, from 2,645 dollars. Three-month zinc prices jumped to 3,385.50 dollars a tonne, from 3,326 dollars. Three-month tin prices advanced to 14,100 dollars a tonne, from 13,900 dollars.
"Cocoa draws support from continuous concerns over political tensions in Ivory Coast, following the recent attempt to assassinate the country's prime minister," Sucden's Davies said. "In addition, there were reports about dry conditions in parts of West Africa."
London cocoa prices surged on Friday to 1,146 pounds a tonne - last seen in late 2003. New York-traded cocoa hit 2,141 dollars a tonne - last reached in February 2003. Ivory Coast Prime Minister Guillaume Soro last week survived rocket attacks on his twin-engine Fokker jet fired by unidentified men as it landed in Bouake, the headquarters of his New Forces erstwhile rebel movement.
Four of his aides died and 10 others were injured in the attack - the latest twist in the Ivorian saga which began with a failed September 2002 uprising against President Laurent Gbagbo and sliced the nation in half.
By Friday on the Liffe, London's futures exchange, the price of cocoa for September delivery rose to 1,138 pounds a tonne, from 1,115 pounds a week earlier. On the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), the September contract jumped to 2,123 dollars a tonne, from to 2,056 dollars the previous Friday.
By Friday on the Liffe, Robusta quality for September delivery advanced to 1,890 dollars a tonne, from 1,868 dollars a tonne one week earlier. On the NYBOT, Arabica for September delivery fell to 109.70 US cents a pound, from 112.60 cents.
August-dated soyabean meal - used in animal feed - increased to 8.69 dollars, from 8.55 dollars. On the Liffe, the price per tonne of wheat for November delivery fell to 116.75 pounds, from 117.50 pounds.
It added that all indicators were higher by about 25 percent since the start of the market's upward movement in October. The Australian wool market finished the week 0.8-percent lower on average, with the Eastern Index closing at 9.29 dollars a kilogramme.