Oil, gold push higher after strikes on Libya

* Oil gains after West launches strikes against Libya

 * Gold higher, more worries about Japan hitting growth

 * Copper subdued after weak Chinese copper imports

 LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - Oil and gold climbed on Monday
after Western powers launched strikes against Libya, stoking
fears about more unrest in the Middle East.

 Crude oil pushed higher in the wake of the second wave of
airstrikes on Muammar Gaddafi's forces after the United Nations
approved intervention to protect civilians caught up in a
one-month-old revolt.

 Brent crude for May rose 1.4 percent to $115.57 a barrel and
by 1230 GMT, after moving as high as $116.22, while U.S. crude
for April gained 1.7 percent to $102.74 a barrel.

 "With the nature of the external military involvement
becoming clearer, there is a further escalation of the
situation, and the damage to infrastructure might be larger,
keeping Libya out of the oil market for longer," said Amrita
Sen, an analyst at Barclays Capital. 

 Unrest over the weekend also flared in Syria and Yemen in
the wake of popular uprisings that toppled long-time leaders in
Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year and a crackdown on protests
in Bahrain last week.

  "The key is really how Saudi (Arabia) and Iran play out.
Cool heads need to prevail. It's contained at the moment, but if
things worsen, you see a Mideast premium very quickly," said
Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking
Services. 

 GOLD

 The tension in the Middle East also boosted gold, but the
main influence driving up prices was concern about the impact to
global growth from the devastation in Japan.

 Gold rose for a fourth day, getting additional support from
a weaker dollar.

  The gold price, set for its tenth consecutive quarterly
gain, was last up 1 percent at $1,433.90 an ounce, having
rallied by as much as 1.1 percent to a session peak at
$1,435.50, its highest since March 9. Meanwhile, most-active
U.S. April futures were up 1.2 percent at $1,433.50.

  Last week, gold fell by as much as 2.6 percent as the
unfolding situation in Japan triggered a wave of selling in
higher-risk assets, prompting investors to liquidate their
bullion holdings to cover losses in other markets and analysts
said the high level of risk aversion might see a repeat of this.

  "It's happening against a backdrop of elevated uncertainty
from numerous places, which should give these safe-haven type
commodities a bid," said Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen. 

 Trading was subdued in industrial metals, caught between
prospects of long-term demand for industrial metals to rebuild
Japan's infrastructure and concerns about conflict in Libya and
the Middle East. 

 Copper's modest gains were held in check after data showed
China's February imports of refined copper fell to a 27-month
low because of holidays in the shortest month of the year and
high inventories.

 Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange tiptoed 0.1
percent higher to $9,521 a tonne from Friday's $9,510 close. 

 "We've seen equities rebound in Asia overnight and opening
higher in Europe this morning, and the joint effort to try and
remove (Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi is driving risk appetite
higher," Christin Tuxen, an analyst at Danske bank, said. 

 Wheat and corn prices  gained around 1 percent, tracking the
surge in oil prices, a raw material for fertiliser.

 Chicago Board of Trade May wheat rose 0.9 percent to $7.30 a
bushel. CBOT May corn gained 1.3 percent to $6.91 a bushel.
 

 "The trade in grains is pretty choppy. We had some strong
rallies late last week after a big sell-off," said Victor
Thianpiriya, agricultural commodity analyst at ANZ in Melbourne.

 He noted corn markets were particularly sensitive after news

that U.S. exporters sold over 100,000 tonnes of corn last week.

(Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFLDE72K0MT20110321)