Commodities: Chinese State Reserve board has been purchasing copper

Commodities were spared the selling pressure seen in other asset classes on Tuesday, although they had borne the brunt of losses over recent weeks.

Front month West Texas crude futures were to be seen 81 cents higher to $63.82 per barrel on the NYMEX by the end of trading. That came as Algeria's oil minister warned that OPEC might hold an emergency meeting before its next regularly-scheduled summit, in June.

For his part, an Iranian official reportedly said that if the oil cartel's solidarity broke then oil could fall as low as $40 per barrel.

Three-month copper futures on the LME rose 1.17% to $6,480 per metric tonne. According to Glencore's head of copper the Chinese State Reserve board has indeed been making purchases.

In a nearby segment of the market, Indian iron-ore exporters were said to be curtailing sales due to the low prices for the metal worldwide.

Lastly, gold futures gained $21.10 per ounce to hit $1,228.8 per ounce on COMEX on the back of the rise in risk aversion.