Commodity space has been quite vibrant during the last month with base metals and energies complex leading the way and precious metals losing their shine. The lag effects of global stimulus packages were quite evident in the bull run of commodities.

China played very important role in preventing sharp fall in base metals prices. With Chinese government buying various base metals to stock in their Strategic Reserve, base metals prices shot up and most of these metals were trading at hefty premium on Shanghai as compared to London Metal Exchange due to China buying. Commodities rallied well in advance before other asset classes rallied.

Precious metals:

The fortnight was turbulent for precious metals, with fears of swine flu and signs of improvement in the domestic demand. This pushed prices of gold slightly higher towards the end, undoing the decline in the first few days when the equity markets rallied. Indian demand spiked up due to the gold buying festival of `Akshay Tritiya'.

But after the festival the demand has failed to keep up with the supply.