Oil, soy surge as Greek bailout measures weaken dollar

(Reuters) - Dollar drops vs euro as Greece passes austerity measures
    * Crude oil makes biggest gain in 6 weeks
    * Copper down on doubts about Greek ability to avoid default
    * Soybean rallies after worrisome Brazil weather

    By Barani Krishnan
    NEW YORK, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Oil surged on
 Monday for its biggest gain in six weeks after Greece's
approval of bailout measures boosted the euro against the
dollar, but copper fell on doubts that Athens will avoid a debt
default.
    Agricultural markets ended mostly higher, adjusting to the
dollar's weakness and worrisome crop weather in Brazil that
caused grains traders to pare back some optimistic production
estimates. Soybean prices gained their most in 3 weeks.
    Still, the 19-commodity Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index
, however, rose only 0.6 percent, its gains checked by
declines in copper and other markets such as coffee and natural
gas despite the surge in U.S. crude, the index's main component.
    U.S. March crude rose $2.24 to settle at $100.91 a
barrel, having pushed through the 20-day and 50-day moving
averages. London's Brent crude rose 62 cents to settle
at $117.93 barrel.
    "Crude oil prices continue to draw support from a familiar
set of factors: progress on Greek sovereign debt, risk of supply
disruption linked to sanctions against Iran, and refinery
outages that are seen limiting gasoline supply," Tim Evans,
energy analyst for Citi Futures Perspective, said in a note.
    The Greek parliament passed a package of wage, pension and
job cuts on Sunday, boosting hopes Athens would secure more
rescue funds from the European Union and International Monetary
Fund ahead of a March bond redemption.
    But the European Union gave Greece's government until
Wednesday to specify how 325 million euros of the 3.3 billion
euros in budget savings demanded will be achieved.

    That, and worries about other hurdles in the country's bid
to avoid a disorderly default, pushed copper prices down.
    The metal's benchmark three-month contract on the London
Metal Exchange fell $60 to finish at $8,425 per tonne, down
nearly 4 percent from last week's five-month peak at $8,765.
      "Avoiding default is positive, it's breathing space, but
this issue is going to keep on arising every time Greece has to
roll over its debt, Greece is essentially verging on
bankruptcy," said Citigroup analyst David Wilson.
    "There's still a sense that the copper rally has been
overdone," Wilson said, adding that top consumer China has not
been buying as much copper as anticipated by the trade.
    After a dismal 20 percent loss in 2011, copper has started
this year on a strong note, finishing Monday with a year-to-date
gain of nearly 11 percent.
    Soybean futures settled up nearly 2 percent for the session,
with the front-month March contract rising 23 cents to
$12.52 per bushel in heavier than usual volume.
Prices at 5:23 p.m. EST (2223 GMT)
                            LAST/      NET    PCT     YTD
                            CLOSE      CHG    CHG     CHG
US crude            100.80     2.13   2.2%    2.0%
Brent crude        117.64     0.33   0.3%    9.6%
Natural gas          2.431   -0.046  -1.9%  -18.7% 	

US gold            1723.00    -0.30   0.0%   10.0%
Gold               1721.29    -1.20  -0.1%   10.1%
US Copper           383.95    -2.25  -0.6%   11.7%
#VALUE!
Dollar              78.994   -0.120  -0.2%   -1.5%
CRB                314.060    1.920   0.6%    2.9% 	

US corn              639.50     7.75   1.2%   -1.1%
US soybeans         1252.00    23.00   1.9%    4.5%
US wheat             641.25    11.25   1.8%   -1.8% 	

US Coffee           212.30    -3.00  -1.4%   -7.0%
US Cocoa           2199.00    43.00   2.0%    4.3%
US Sugar             24.64    -0.03  -0.1%    6.1% 	

US silver           33.722    0.118   0.4%   20.8%
US platinum        1649.70   -10.10  -0.6%   17.4%
US palladium        698.55    -4.50  -0.6%    6.5%