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Oil slips on Libyan ceasefire

London - Oil prices tipped lower on Friday after Libya said it would halt all military action, but gold held most of its gains as global uncertainty still unnerved investors.

Oil prices gave up gains and turned negative after Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa told reporters Libya had called an immediate ceasefire, accepting a UN resolution.

Brent crude shed 0.8% to $114.04 a barrel by 1430 GMT, off a session high of $117.29. US crude fell 0.5% to $100.96.

Oil markets had risen to their highest in more than a week after a UN meeting on Thursday evening that authorised Western-led military intervention against Muammar Gaddafi.

Although the ceasefire triggered a sell-off, analysts noted the situation was still complex.

"This does not mean we are near a resolution of the situation in Libya. We may be facing the possibility of an entrenched status quo between pro and anti Gaddafi groups," said Harry Tchilinguirian, analyst at BNP Paribas.

Gold gave up some of its gains after the Libyan ceasefire announcement, but the metal's safe-haven status kept it firmly in positive territory.

"The uncertainty across the different global centres is still there and that should support precious metals," said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.

Gold came off a daily high of over $1 423 an ounce to $1 422.25, up more than 1% from late levels in New York on Thursday.

Copper

Among industrial metals, copper edged lower after the succession of global crises, but a G7 joint intervention to calm market nerves over the Japanese earthquake disaster helped cushion the losses and boost overall risk appetite.

Copper had briefly extended losses after China's central bank said it would raise lenders' required reserves again.

"China is taking some moderate measures to cool down the economy. This may have a negative impact in the near-term but we don't think it will derail China's growth in terms of base metals," Credit Suisse analyst Stefan Graber said.

Analysts said commodities should benefit from an agreement by the Group of Seven on joint intervention to curb the soaring yen and calm markets jittery over the Japanese nuclear power plant crisis.

"Overall we are seeing a rebound in risk appetite and in demand for commodities," Danske Bank analyst Christin Tuxen said.

"The idea that a weaker yen would be able to improve Japanese companies' competitiveness is spurring market optimism that the Japanese industry will be coming back on track sooner ... This is quite positive for base metals."

Copper dipped 0.5% while aluminium rose 1.2% and nickel added 1.3%.

European wheat prices surged again on Friday to hit new week-long highs as robust grain exports turned attention back to fundamentals.

May milling wheat futuresin Paris surged 3.5% to €231.50 a tonne, after rising earlier to €237.50, a highest level since March 9.

Robusta coffee futures touched a fresh three-year high on a shortage of deliverable supplies.

London second-month robusta coffee futures rose to a fresh three-year high of $2 672 per month basis second-month on investor buying.

The premium of May robusta over July robusta stood at $142 per tonne, an indication of how tight the deliverable supply situation is, although it was down from $200 per tonne on Thursday.

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