Commodities rose Wednesday as investors hunted for bargains after many prices fell last week on concerns about the global economy.
Sugar finished 5.2 percent higher while coffee rose 4.6 percent. Oil, industrial metals, wheat and soybeans also rose. Gold ended the day higher as well.
Investors sold off many commodities last week when worries built about financial issues in the U.S. and debt problems in Europe. That caused volatile trading in commodities and the stock markets.
Stocks have stabilized somewhat this week, which is creating more interest in riskier investments such as commodities, analysts said.
"Now that the stock market has stopped falling and kind of gotten into at least a bit of a range for now, I think there's a little bit more risk coming back in," MF Global senior market strategist Rich Ilczyszyn said.
Investors are "looking around and a lot of these commodities have sold off pretty good from the highs," he said.
Commodities also are benefiting from a weaker dollar. Since commodities are priced in dollars, a weaker dollar makes them cheaper for investors who use other currencies.
In soft commodities such as sugar and coffee, prices fell enough to draw investors back into the market, said Jack Scoville, vice president of Price Futures Group. There also are tighter inventories for both, which are supporting the prices.
Coffee for September delivery rose 12 cents to finish at $2.63 a pound. That's an increase of 9 percent since Aug. 1 and 50 percent from August 2010.
The price spike came a day after J.M. Smucker Co. said it would lower prices on its coffee products by 6 percent on average to reflect the cheaper cost of beans. The company produces Folgers, Millstone and Dunkin' Donuts brands.
September sugar increased 1.45 cents to 29.49 cents a pound at day's end. The price is up nearly 2 percent this month and 52 percent from August 2010.
In other trading, December gold rose $8.80 to $1,793.80 an ounce after hitting $1,797.60 an ounce in earlier trading.
September silver increased 53.2 cents to finish at $40.351 an ounce, September copper climbed 3.8 cents to $4.032 a pound, October platinum rose $22.70 to $1,840.80 an ounce and September palladium increased $19.40 to $775.90 an ounce.
Oil also rose, pushed higher by an unexpected drop in U.S. gasoline supplies and a weaker dollar.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery increased 93 cents to finish at $87.58 per barrel.
In other Nymex trading for September contracts, heating oil rose 2.9 cents to finish at $2.9616 per gallon, gasoline futures increased by 1.65 cents to $2.8703 per gallon and natural gas rose 0.1 cent to $3.933 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Agricultural contracts were mixed. September wheat rose 2.75 cents to finish at $7.275 a bushel, December corn fell 2 cents to $7.255 a bushel and November soybeans increased 17.25 cents to $13.6675 a bushel.
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