By Nigel Hunt LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - A coordinated round of rate cuts by leading central banks failed to halt the downward march of prices on Wednesday for oil, copper and many other commodities, hit hard by turmoil in financial markets. Gold was an exception, getting a lift as investors scurried for the relative safety of the precious metal. "The only commodity that looks like it could be well supported in this environment will be gold as a safe haven investment," said Mark Pervan, ANZ's senior commodity analyst. "Oil particularly is vulnerable because it is the most exposed commodity to the U.S. economy," he added. The U.S. Federal Reserve led a global round of emergency interest rates cuts in an effort to contain the crisis but the move provided only limited relief with most commodity and energy markets remaining down on the day. Crude oil briefly rallied after the coordinated rate cuts but was soon back in negative territory, slipping about $1.60 a barrel to $88.46 a barrel. It had earlier fallen as low as $86.05 a barrel and is about 40 percent off a peak of $147.27 struck in July. Fears that the crisis could slash demand generated the widespread losses in commodity and energy markets. Copper on the London Metal Exchange -- often seen as a key gauge of real economic activity -- trimmed losses after the rate cuts after earlier sliding more than 7 percent. "It's too early to say what will happen next but it's a step in the right direction," said Dan Smith, analyst at Standard Chartered (other-otc: SCBEF.PK - news - people ). "The move will help to underpin commodity prices." LME copper fell 7.1 percent to the lowest level since March 2006 at $5,227 a tonne in early trade. but after the move by central banks narrowed losses to $5,370/5,390, down from $5,625 on Tuesday. The Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a global commodities benchmark, looked set to fall further on Wednesday after sliding to a 13-month low earlier this week. Gold rose sharply as investors sought safer assets but saw gains trimmed after the rate cut moves. "Gold will still continue to gain safe-haven interest," said Simon Weeks, managing director of precious metals at Nova Scotia Capital. "I do not think the cuts will solve the situation. It will help smooth the situation but I don't think there are any miracle cures at the moment," he said. Gold rose early to a peak of $915.30 an ounce, its highest since Sept. 29 but fell back to around $900 after the rate cuts, still sharply up from a close of $886.60 in New York on Tuesday. In the agricultural sector, wheat and corn futures were swept lower on fears that the crisis could curtail demand. Chicago Board of Trade wheat for December delivery fell nearly 2 percent to $5.93 a bushel while December corn dipped 1.2 percent to $4.12 a bushel. The Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a global commodities benchmark, looked set to fall further on Wednesday after sliding to a 13-month low earlier this week. Robusta coffee futures in London tumbled 12 percent in early trade to the lowest level since May 2007 before the benchmark January contract cut losses almost in half to stand $105 or 5.6 percent lower at $1,759 a tonne. "It's fund selling, origin selling -- more of what we have been seeing," one trader said, referring to long liquidation due to the global financial crisis. Sugar and cocoa prices also fell sharply. For a graphic showing commodity prices in historical context, click: https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/CMDS_1008.gif (Additional reporting by Lewa Pardomuan, Nick Trevethan and Annika Breidthardt in Singapore, Bruce Hextall in Sydney, Mi-Young Kim in Seoul and Miho Yoshikawa in Tokyo) (Editing by Michael Roddy)

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