Copper fell on Friday while oil and grains prices rose as commodity markets tried to find their feet after a turbulent trading week, rocked by global economic worries.
Gold bounced back to around $US1400 an ounce, providing some comfort to bullish investors in the precious metal. Still, the market was down more than 5 per cent for the week after Monday's loss of nearly 9 per cent.
Copper settled just below $US7000 a tonne, dropping more than 1 per cent on the day and 6 per cent on the week for its sharpest weekly slide on the London Metal Exchange since December 2011.
The market continued to slide as LME stockpiles for copper hovered around 10-year highs.
"People are increasingly realizing that copper supply has heavily surprised on the upside," Danske Bank analyst Christin Tuxen said.
The Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a bellwether for commodities, closed flat on the day and down 1.4 per cent on the week.
The sharp decline on the week was largely caused by Monday's tumble as investors reacted to surprisingly weak Chinese growth data, evidence of slowing economic growth in the US, and plans by Cyprus to sell its gold reserves to finance debt.
Since Monday's selloff, and another slump on Wednesday, commodities have edged higher. On Friday, twelve of the 19 markets tracked by the CRB rose, with prices of crops such as wheat, cocoa, sugar, corn, coffee and orange juice all up by nearly 1 per cent or more.
Some analysts were wary of the rebound, saying fundamentals and the demand outlook was still weak in many markets.
In US crude oil, which had worryingly-high stockpiles just like copper, prices rose on Friday because of a run-up in Wall Street stocks, some analysts said.
"This remains a market very much driven by the equity markets," Kyle Cooper, managing director of research at the Houston-based IAF Advisors, said, referring to oil.
"They've been rebounding and we're just knocking along with that."
US crude settled at $US88.01 a barrel, up 0.3 per cent on the day and down 3.7 per cent on the week. London's benchmark Brent crude finished up 0.5 per cent on the session and 3.6 per cent lower on the week at $US99.65.
Gold also remained vulnerable, with money continuing to flow out of exchange-traded funds of the precious metal, traders noted.
Analysts said the potential for Federal Reserve policymakers to suggest reductions in monetary stimulus could adversely impact gold in the near term.
Gold traded just above $US1400 an ounce late on Friday, up 0.7 per cent on the day and down 5.3 per cent on the week.
It notched its biggest-ever daily loss in dollar terms on Monday, falling nearly $US130 in a tumble that caught by surprise many veteran investors, who see the precious metal as portfolio protection against inflation and other market risks.
In the past two sessions, bullion prices have been supported by consumers snapping up gold bars, coins, nuggets and jewellery after Monday's price slump unleashed some pent-up retail demand.
"Gold is rebounding off its low on a pick-up in physical demand and short-covering," said David Meger, director of metals trading at Vision Financial Markets.
