Crude oil and copper headed for their best week in three, and gold gained for the first time in a month after commodities jumped the most this year on heightening inflation concern and a slump in the dollar. Oil climbed 7.2 percent yesterday, leading an advance in raw material prices after the Federal Reserve said it will buy more than $1 trillion in government and mortgage debt to help end the recession and credit crisis. The Dollar Index headed toward its worst week since September 1985, spurring demand for commodities as a hedge against accelerating consumer prices. “In the short term, it’s having a negative impact on the dollar which is giving commodities markets a boost,” said Yingxi Yu, a Singapore-based analyst at Barclays Capital. Crude oil for April delivery traded at $50.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:22 p.m. in Singapore, after reaching $52.25 yesterday. Oil is up 10 percent this week, its fifth weekly gain. Gold for immediate delivery traded at $951.80 an ounce after touching $961.51 yesterday. Every commodity in the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 contracts advanced yesterday, delivering a 5.3 percent gain, the biggest since Dec. 31. The index reached 225.3, a 13 percent increase from the six-year low of 200.16 on Feb. 24. “Fears of inflation picking up again when demand recovers is helping to support sentiment as well,” said Yu. Dollar Plunge The dollar headed for a record weekly drop against the euro and is on pace for a second weekly decline against the yen. Central banks are lowering interest rates and spending trillions of dollars in response to the deepest slump since the Great Depression. “Going ahead, debasement concerns may continue to plague the dollar given deteriorating rate differentials, and especially if risk appetite manages to chart a steady course,” Emmanuel Ng, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. in Singapore, wrote in a report today. Assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, climbed to a record 1,103.29 metric tons yesterday, according to figures on the company’s Web site. Gold for immediate delivery slid 0.5 percent to $954.99 an ounce at 12:38 p.m. Singapore time, after climbing yesterday to its highest since Feb. 27. “Gold has once again established its inverse relationship with the dollar, and will continue to extend gains as long as the dollar remains in its downtrend,” Steven Lv, trader at Shanghai Tonglian Futures Co., said from Shanghai. Metals, Grains Copper was little changed at $3,988 a metric ton today after soaring 6.5 percent yesterday. Copper is an indicator for the world economy and sets the pace for industrial metals. AN average of 400 pounds (181 kilograms) is used in homes and 50 pounds in cars, according to the Copper Development Association. “The market has priced in an immediate increase in demand,” said Mark Pervan, a commodity strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Melbourne. “The next stage will be to wait and see if that demand actually materializes.” Corn headed for a fourth weekly increase, after rising to $4.025 a bushel yesterday, the highest since Jan. 26, while soybeans and wheat are on track for their best week since December.

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