US dollar rebounds from 15-month low

The US dollar rebounded from a 15-month low on Tuesday after Ben Bernanke's rare comments on the currency spurred traders to trim long-term bets against the greenback. The dollar index is currently trading above the 75 mark.

Oil prices rose more than 1% to above USD 79 a barrel on forecasts that a government report will show US fuel inventories declined last week. It is currently trading at USD 79.7/bbl.

Copper fell nearly 1% after dollar rebounded. In other metals, Nickel lost 0.6% while Zinc was down almost 2%.

By Manisha Gupta, Commodities Editor at CNBC-TV18

Gold

Gold made a record high at $1143.95/ounce.

Base metals

Base metals were mostly firm on soft dollar and strong sentiment. Copper ended at 13-month high, which was up 1% at $6787/tonne. Chile strike entered 36th day and LME stocks were up for 18th week.

Aluminium was up 0.3% at $2037/tonne while Nickel was down 0.6% at $16701/tonne; Zinc down 1.7%; lead down 1.6% and Tin down 1.3%.

Crude

Crude gained for third day and settled up 0.6% at $79.58/bbl. API showed crude inventories down to 333.1 million barrels. OPEC will meet in Angola on December 22.