Photo: IRIN

THE prices of copper surged by more than four per cent on Friday, their biggest one-day gain since November 2012.

Even after the day's sharp gains, however, copper still ended the second quarter down around eight per cent in New York and nine per cent in London.

Reuters reports that three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $7,690 a tonne, more than four per cent up from $7,385 at the close on Thursday.

Earlier it hit a session high and a one-month peak at $7,691 a tonne.

Generally, the commodity markets posted their biggest rally for the year on with oil prices rocketing nine per cent.

The rally on the final trading day of June saved commodities from posting their worst quarterly loss since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.

US crude oil jumped more than $7 per barrel, the biggest gain in a session since March 2009.

The crude oil closed up $7.27, or 9.4 per cent, at $84.96 per barrel, recovering most of the more than $8 it had lost from the beginning of June through Thursday.

London's Brent crude oil ended up by $6.44, or 7.1 percent, at $97.80 per barrel. It had slid more than $10 earlier in the month.

Gold prices rose by about three per cent, with the spot price of bullion scaling a one-month high of $1,600 an ounce.

For the quarter, bullion slid by four percent, its biggest quarterly drop since the three months to September 2008.