Oil prices surged on Tuesday, heading for a spectacular end to a blistering quarter for industrial raw materials, most of which are on course for double-digit gains.
Trading volume in both Brent and US crude oil futures surged to more than 10 times the norm for the Asian time zone, but dealers were hard pressed to find a specific trigger for the over $1.50 leap in prices in under half an hour around 0200 GMT.
The ICE Brent contract -- not the NYMEX crude that is normally more liquid in Asia -- led the rally, with some fundamental support from fresh attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria as well as improving risk sentiment.
But traders said those factors, along with firmer equity markets, were secondary to the sudden big Brent bid orders that overwhelmed liquidity during the thin Asian trading period.
"It feels like short-covering because of stop orders left overnight," said a trader with a global investment bank. "Crude was up $1.50 this morning before the big wave of buying came."
US crude for August delivery spiked to an eight-month high of $73.38 a barrel, but later eased to trade at $72.97, up $1.48 or 2.1 percent on the day.
London Brent trading volume in the front month contract surged to more than 19,000 lots versus around 1,000 lots that normally trade in Asian hours, gaining $1.69 a barrel to $72.68 having touched an eight-month high of $73.50.
A broker added: "I suspect some parties were trying to push prices higher in quiet Asian trading and make a run before the end of the quarter to close off their first half."
So far this quarter Nymex crude has rallied almost 47 percent, making it the strongest performer among mainstream commodity markets. The RJ/CRB commodities index is up 15 percent this quarter -- its second biggest rise since mid-1973.
The surge in oil also lifted base metals. Copper prices rose 1.4 percent, while lead and nickel gained just over 1.5 percent, underpinned by some positive economic data out on Monday.
Analysts and traders had mixed views on whether the world's economy has overcome the worst turbulence in decades.
"The recent rally has gone too fast and way ahead of fundamentals. The economic crisis can't possibly come to an end this soon. It's just that the current situation is slightly better than the worst-case scenario we had expected," said a Shanghai-based trader.
Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange came within $4 of a two-week high of $5,174 a tonne, and is on track for a 28 percent rise in the second quarter of the year and its biggest six-month gain in more than two decades.
LME aluminium is on course for a 19 percent quarterly rise, while nickel has surged 62 percent, its biggest quarterly gain since 2003.
US soybean and wheat futures rose on Tuesday, driven by the rally in crude, and corn also firmed after dropping to its lowest in two months.
Chicago Board of Trade front-month July soybeans rose 0.6 percent to $12.22-½ a bushel by 0347 GMT, on track to register a quarterly gain of nearly 30 percent.
Raw sugar (SBc2) looked like another star performer -- up a third in the past three months at its highest in three years. "Sugar is trading at a three-year high. India is looking at a half a million tonne cut in production due to weather," said Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services in Sydney.
"It looks like that might continue in Q3 -- sugar is at that stage where you just have to go with the trend."
Spot gold was at $941.20 per ounce at 0335 GMT, up 0.4 percent from New York's notional close of $937.05. "Gold and silver have lost their attraction. They are non-performing assets at the moment and will only start to pick up once the data points to inflation," Barratt said.
"There are no signs of that right now but they