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Brent crude surged more than 3 percent to a session high above $116 a

barrel on Wednesday, as  power balance  pro-Gaddafi forces and rebels fought for

control of key towns, and accused each other of targeting oil

facilities in the east.

While Brent surged in London, the main U.S. crude benchmark slipped 0.6

percent toward $104 after inventories jumped to a record level at the

contract's delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma.

Gold drew support from geopolitical risks in the Middle East and

inflation fears created by the roughly 20 percent surge in world oil

prices so far this year.

There's huge uncertainty as to what's going on," said Daniel Brebner,

a metals analyst at Deutsche Bank.

"You've got oil prices now  power balance  coming back up. It's risky, to say the

least."

Copper prices, often viewed as a gauge of the economic outlook due to

the metal's use in construction and power generation, fell almost 3

percent as traders fretted that surging Brent crude could hurt the

economy.

The 19-component Reuters Jeffries CRB commodity price index .CRB dipped

0.2 percent, with wheat futures in the United States also under

pressure.

COFFEE STRONGER THAN COCOA

Arabica coffee futures in the United States rose to another 34-year

high close to $3 a lb, boosted by tight supplies of the high quality

beans and the strong recent price uptrend  power balance  attracting more buying by

funds. Analysts and traders said coffee looked poised for further

gains.

Prices rose to a high of $2.9665, before slipping slightly to close at

、$2.9485.

Colombia, the world's top grower of Arabica, has experienced lower-

than-average output for the last two years as a result of bad weather

and a program to replace aging trees with younger, more productive

ones.

Cocoa futures fell by 3 percent to $3527 a tonne, pulling back further

from last week's 32-year peak as worries over a supply crunch caused by

conflict in top grower Ivory  power balance  Coast appear to be easing.

On Wednesday, Ivory Coast's sector regulator said cocoa exporters have

until the end of March to ship beans they have in stock and pay taxes

or risk seizure by Laurent Gbagbo's government.

The country has been brought to the brink of civil war as Gbagbo has

defied calls to step down after U.N.-certified results showed him the loser in a disputed election.