Crude settled up $6.11 at $51.55 on Friday, as early gains on U. S. stocks helped offset government data showing a arger-thanexpected 3.9 million-barrel build in U. S. crude stocks to a 19-year high last week.

Natural gas futures ended lower on Friday as mild weekend forecasts, growing supplies and a weak economy continued to weigh on sentiment.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), said that it can’t rule out the possibility of an oil supply shortage in 2013-14 because of slower investments in oil exploration and production by OPEC and other oil producing countries.

Base Metals floated higher with the equities markets and mostly ended higher than their previous close. Three month LME Copper rose by $150 to end at $4470 and the three month LME Nickel rose by $475 to finish the day at $1150.

Copper futures edged higher on Fridaytracking a fall in LME inventories. Copper stocks on the LME fell by 10,925 tonnes to 429,500 tonnes. Some traders are of the view that China's State Reserves Bureau (SRB), which bought 350,000 tonnes of copper cathode in the first quarter of 2009, could sell around 50,000 tonnes of copper to cash in on recent rallies.

Gold rallied on Friday after China said it has added over 450 tonnes to its foreign reserves over the past six years. The reserves have risen to 1054 tonnes from 600 tonnes in 2003. This places China at the fifth spot amongst the gold-holding nations. Analysts expect China to buy more gold to match its holding with other central banks. This creates a very positive sentiment towards gold.

Today is Akshaya Tritya festival, an auspicious time for gold buying in India which continues to lend support.

Uttam Galva, the leading steel manufacturer, which is presently going slow on expanding steel capacity considering the economic situation, has plans to spend Rs 400 crore in enhancing capacity of its service centre and adding new product mix over the next one year.

The company intends to fund the investment, largely through a mix of internal accruals and debt.

Presently, company's steel service centre has a capacity of 20,000 tonne. The facility is situated near its plant in Khopoli, Maharashtra.

Balrampur Chini Mills, one of the largest integrated sugar manufacturing company, on Saturday announced a marginal increase in net profit at Rs 66.19 crore for the second quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared to Rs 65.65 crore in the year-ago period.

The net sales for the quarter rose 15.93% to Rs 357.11 crore, compared to Rs 308.03 crore for prior year period.

Further, the company's total income surged by 14.84 per cent to Rs 357.34 crore, from Rs 311.15 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year.