The market for gold and other commodities is cooling and it is the dollar that has gained the most. The Reuters CRB Commodity Index is down 8.4 per cent over last one week.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke s moves to pump in liquidity and save banks from collapse have brought relief at least in currency markets as dollar is up against major currencies after Bernanke's move and buyers are coming back into US government securities.

We expect dollar to go up and commodity prices to ease off, said Michael Preiss, Associate Director Investment Advisory Group, HSBC.

Thanks to stronger dollar investors are now discarding gold as safe haven.

Major global funds including hedge funds have sold commodities across the board fearing a global slowdown.

Crude oil and gold prices have crashed over 9 per cent since March 17 and latest data suggest US crude demand has dropped by 5.10 lakh barrels/day.

There is also speculation in the market that G 7 nations may have intervene in forex market to stem the dollar's fall.

Global investors are buying dollars and dumping commodities and so the dollar has gained over 3 per cent against Euro and Yen since March 17.

However, investors are still very worried about US recession and analysts say this will help commodities to find a fair value.

Meanwhile traders on Wall Street have started building up expectations that Federal Reserve might cut interest rates by another 50 bps on next April 30th meet.

Courtesy: www.ndtvprofit.com

U.S. Ben Bernanke HSBC