Commodity prices recover after huge sell-off

Commodity prices have started to recover after markets were hit by one of the biggest sell-offs in two years.

In the last few hours of trade in New York on Thursday, commodity prices tumbled on poor economic data from the US and Europe, the BBC reports.

Oil dropped a record $12, while gold, silver and copper prices also fell.

But commodities have gained back some of their losses as Asia buyers were attracted by the cheaper prices.

Brent crude was up by more than 1% at $111.90 a barrel while US light crude crept back over the $100 a barrel price. It had fallen the day before by $9.44 to $99.80 on fears about the strength of the US economy.

Silver rebounded by 2.5% to $35.54 an ounce on Friday after its biggest one-day dollar price drop since 1980 the day before. Gold also recovered, up by more than 1% to $1,489.26 an ounce.

Asian markets fell in early trade in reaction to the commodities falls with the Nikkei 225 index down 1.8%. In the US, the Dow Jones closed down 1.10% to 12584.17.