NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Copper futures rallied Monday in New York, climbing to their highest level in more than seven months after China, the biggest copper consumer, reported its May manufacturing expanded for a third month. After climbing above $990 an ounce, gold fell $4.00 to $976.30 an ounce. Two competing purchasing-manager indexes released Monday showed Chinese factory activity remained on an uptrend in May. Also helping investor sentiment in commodities, crude oil rose for a sixth-straight session. Copper for July delivery rose 10 cents, or 4.4%, to $2.29 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Copper "[was] lifted by gains in oil, a slide in the dollar and positive purchasing manager index data from China," said analysts led by Alex Heath at RBC Capital Markets, in a note. Commodities made big gains in last month's trading. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index (CRB 397.39, +144.34, +57.04%) , which gauges the prices of 19 major commodities, surged 14% in May, the biggest monthly gain since 1974. The China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing's version of the PMI saw its benchmark reading fall to 53.1 in May from 53.5 in April, according to data released Monday. The reading marked the third-consecutive month in which the CFLP PMI has held above 50, the level indicating expansion. See full story. Copper inventories at the London Metal Exchange fell to 312,275 metric tons Friday, down 4,850 tons from a day ago and 99,175 tons from a month ago. In other metals, June gold fell to $975.00 an ounce. Earlier it climbed to $988.10 an ounce, the highest level for a front-month contract since Feb. 24. The more active August gold contract fell $2.20 to $978.10. It rose to $990.20 earlier. Helping gold move higher, the euro rose to as high as $1.4246, the strongest level since mid December. A weaker dollar tends to push dollar-denominated commodities prices higher. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD 96.19, -0.01, -0.01%) , the biggest gold exchange-traded fund, stood at 1,118.76 metric tons Friday, unchanged for a fifth session, according to the latest data from the fund. In oil trading, crude briefly topped $68 a barrel for the first time in nearly seven months. Oil rallied 30% last month, the biggest monthly gain in a decade, on a weaker U.S. dollar and hopes for an economic recovery. In economic news in the U.S., the personal-savings rate jumped to a 14-year high of 5.7% in April as after-tax incomes were boosted by provisions of the economic stimulus plan, the Commerce Department reported Monday. See Economic Report. In other metals Friday, July silver rose 8 cents, or 0.5%, to $15.68 an ounce. July platinum rose $22, or 1.8%, to $1,218 an ounce. The June palladium contract rose $1.45, or 0.6%, to $237.50 an ounce, while the more active September contract fell 0.6% to $236.

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