Commodities slumped the most in a week on concern a slowdown in China and the U.S., the world’s two biggest economies, will cut demand. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index dropped as much as 1.7 percent to 581.73 and was at 582.27 by 2:34 p.m. Singapore time. The gauge is still heading for a gain of 0.2 percent this week, the first such increase in six weeks. Crude oil lost as much as 2.6 percent and copper fell as much as 2.4 percent. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the Fed will need to assess conditions before deciding if more measures are needed to bolster an economy threatened by Europe’s debt crisis and U.S. fiscal tightening. The Chinese central bank cut its benchmark lending and deposit rates by 25 basis points effective today. The reduction came two days before China reports inflation, investment and output data, and may signal the economy is weaker than the government expected. The “markets view the rate cut as a herald of weak macro data over the weekend,� analysts at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) led by Melbourne-based Mark Pervan, said in a report today. Bernanke’s testimony offered very little guidance on the outlook for monetary policy, they said. The interest-rate cut by China, which represents 41 percent of global copper demand, was the first since 2008 after growth slowed for five quarters. Bernanke told Congress the central bank was ready to act should conditions worsen. Oil for July delivery fell to as low as $82.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $82.78. Copper for delivery in three months dropped to as low as $7,319 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange and traded at $7,333. Spot gold lost as much as 2.1 percent to $1,556.68 an ounce, the lowest intraday level since June 1, and traded at $1,568.85. To contact the reporter on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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