Supply issues should provide some support for copper, particularly as Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold workers in Indonesia plan a strike at the huge Grasberg mine, says Commerzbank.

Isolated North Korea is desperate to earn some hard currency and look for rare earths in its borders with China.

Chaos. Confusion. And a lot of people losing a lot of money. This is how I would prefer to describe the markets for the past week.

If President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela actually takes delivery of an estimated 10 metric tons of gold, there could be an unusual development of backwardation in the futures markets, says Dennis Gartman, editor/publisher of The Gartman Letter.

The worries about the financial markets are sending investors to Gold and the exchange-traded funds are seeing high inflows, says Commerzbank. The world's largest gold ETF, SPDR Gold Trust, registered a rise in its holdings of almost 15 tons Thursday.

The world Zinc surplus for the first half of 2011 has increased by 8% compared to the entire 2010, with the Chinese inventories at historically highest levels reported the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS)

Gold futures fell for the first time of the week paring the best weekly advance as higher margins on future contracts encouraged sales after the metal rose to cross the $1800 milestone. The immediate delivery future at the COMEX settled 1.84% lower than

Gold future took a little correction yesterday on optimism of debt talk till $1602.80 after which it again revived to settle at $1613.40 as the debt talk stalled and vote for the plan postponed.

Silver has been in an uptrend since July and is now giving signals of a fast move northward. Both Comex Silver and MCX silver charts have been forming an ascending triangle for the past few days.

Rising appetite for Gold jewelry among households and investors in China and India is driving the global demand for the yellow metal, says a study conducted by the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC). China and India—two largest gold consuming nations in the world—have been driving gold demand in the world in the last few years.

The major industrial metal Copper has transformed all odds in world markets in its favor. From being a dragger at Rs 398-397 range in domestic markets, the prices have captured any opportunity for gains and are now ruling at Rs 435 per kg.

Zinc prices gained on falling Dollar and rising EURO on the back of easing tensions of US quantitative easing. Dollar has so far lost 82 pips and is trading at 1.418 per EURO.