Commodities

FIVE OF THE BEST

Crude oil advanced for a fourth day on signs Europe and US will contain their debt crises, easing speculation demand for raw materials will suffer, Bloomberg reports.

Release of emergency oil reserves has compounded fragility of commodities markets.

Angelos Damaskos, manager of the £54m Junior Oils Trust, has bucked the trend to move defensive over the summer by increasing his equity exposure by 20%.

BHP BUY COULD DRIVE M&A

Gold hit a further record high yesterday afternoon as Ben Bernanke said the Federal Reserve was prepared for QE3 while increasing risk of contagion in the eurozone worried investors.

Central banks have pulled 635 tonnes of gold from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in the past year, the largest withdrawal in more than a decade, the FT reports.

Anthony Bolton, veteran investor and manager of Fidelity's £635m China Special Situations investment trust, has tipped the long-running bull market in gold to continue amid ongoing economic woes across the globe.

The oil price fell by $6 after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said it would make available an extra 60m barrels.

Clive Burstow, a former analyst at Cazenove, has rejoined the group to work on its Global Resources fund.