Agricultural futures, energy contracts and metals generally climbed Tuesday during the final trading session of the first quarter.
Near-month crude oil was up $1.25 at $49.66 a barrel, while reformulated gasoline added 2 cents to $1.40 a gallon. Heating oil was barely changed at $1.34 a gallon, and natural gas tacked on 4 cents to $3.78 per million British thermal units.
June gold, the most active contract, gained $7.30 to $925 an ounce, and silver lost 5 cents to $12.99 an ounce. Copper rose nearly 8 cents to $1.84 a pound.
Most ag futures advanced, led by soybeans, cotton, corn and wheat. Frozen concentrated orange juice, however, ticked down. Lean hogs and cattle futures rose roughly 2% each.
The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index was up 5.23 points at 220.40 for the day, though the measure showed a loss for the quarter.
As for commodity-related stocks, energy major Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote - Cramer on XOM - Stock Picks) was down 0.8% at $68.10, and rival Chevron (CVX Quote - Cramer on CVX - Stock Picks) was up 0.7% at $67.24.
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX Quote - Cramer on FCX - Stock Picks) slipped 1.1% to $38.11 following a downgrade at Deutsche Bank, while fellow miner BHP Billiton (BHP Quote - Cramer on BHP - Stock Picks) rose 3.6% to $44.60. Rio Tinto (RTP Quote - Cramer on RTP - Stock Picks) improved by 0.8% to $134.06.
Turning to the exchange-traded funds, the U.S. Oil (USO Quote - Cramer on USO - Stock Picks) was up 1.2% at $29.05, and the Gold Shares (GLD Quote - Cramer on GLD - Stock Picks) was higher by 0.3% at $90.28.
