* Commodities up, but headed towards double-digit weekly loss * Gold gains on physical buying * Auto industry woes hurt copper, platinum By Nick Trevethan SINGAPORE, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Commodities are set to end the week sharply weaker with sentiment across financial markets ebbing lower, but the precipitous slide in industrial raw materials could be nearing the bottom. Copper is down 10 percent so far this week, oil is off more than 11 percent, wheat had shed nearly 8 percent and the Reuters Jefferies CRB .CRB has lost 7 percent. Only gold has shown any fortitude in the face of collapsing financial markets, gaining 1.6 percent. For a chart of weekly commodity price performance, click: here A turnaround in Asian stock markets on Friday, after tumbling to their lowest in five years or more, helped oil bounce off an early 3-½ year trough, and metals pared losses that had taken copper and aluminium to their weakest in more than three years. "Sentiment is very negative. A lot of that is flowing from the weakness in equity markets, but not all of that is neccessarily warranted," said ANZ's senior commodities analyst Mark Pervan. "We are seeing slowing demand, evidenced by rising stocks, and the crisis in the U.S. auto industry will have a big impact on copper and aluminium. Prices will trend down, but we may be bottoming out." Uncertainty about U.S. corporate titans such as General Motors (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Ford Motor Company (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) added to worries from dismal U.S. housing starts which showed a a record low for October this week, depressing sentiment for raw materials. Detroit executives have gone cap-in-hand to Congress for $25 billion to keep them afloat, but congressional leaders demanded executives at the Big Three automakers come up with a detailed survival plan in exchange for their support. [ID:nN20421931] A U.S. home typically uses around 500 pounds (227 kg) of copper and a vehicle consumes around 50 pounds of the metal. U.S. light crude for January delivery rose 64 cents to $50.06 a barrel at 0622 GMT, its first increase after five straight sessions of losses. Earlier it fell to $48.25, the lowest in 3-½ years. "The economy is pulling everything down like a black hole," said Anthony Nunan, risk management executive at Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp. "Until the economy stabilises, it will be hard for oil to put in a bottom." London Metal Exchange copper MCU3 for delivery in three months fell $105 or 3 percent to $3,375, while Shanghai futures touched their 5 percent downside limit and their weakest in four years. Shanghai aluminium SAFc3 has been even harder hit, falling to its softest in over six years. "The market lacks confidence, both in London and Shanghai. Shanghai copper slid, although traders expect slimmer losses in the domestic futures market due to limited physical supply in China," said Pang Ying, analyst at trading house Runtop. The International Copper Study Group reported the world refined copper market saw a surplus of 74,000 tonnes between January and August this year, versus a surplus of 22,000 tonnes in the year-ago period. That number is likely to balloon as inventories of copper in LME warehouses currently stand at 281,625 tonnes, having risen almost 40,000 tonnes in this month alone. Gold was trading at $745.50 an ounce, up $0.40 from its notional close in New York on Thursday, when it hit an intraday high of $751.60 as physical buying helped it defy selling in equities. Gold is 28 percent below a lifetime high of $1,030.80 struck in March, which it has been unable to revisit after selling choked off recent rallies. It hit a two-month high of $931 in October but losses in equities forced investors to cash in to cover losses. "Given the relative strength of the dollar, it's tending to put a cap on gold extending its gains," said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney, adding that bullion would trade in its current range of $725 to $750. The euro edged down to $1.2443 after falling in New York as investors sold risky assets, such as stocks and commodities financed by loans denominated in the U.S. dollar. [USD/] Platinum was also under pressure, weighed down by the uncertainty in the auto industry and comments by Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research) that they would cut production due to falling demand. U.S corn futures fell nearly 2 percent as traders took the view that the world was well supplied with feed grains and demand for ethanol production would be cut back. U.S. December delivery corn CZ8 fell 1.86 percent to $3.57 per bushel by 0615 GMT, December wheat WZ8 lost 0.1 percent to $5.11-¼ and soybeans for January delivery SF9 shed 0.44 percent to $8.52-¼ per bushel. (Additional reporting by Annika Breidthardt and Lewa Pardomuan in SINGAPORE and Bruce Hextall in Sydney; Editing by Michael Urquhart)

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