Oil, Gold, Stocks Rise on Libya, Japan

Concerns over Japan’s devastation also fueled the gold bug, despite the fact that worries over nuclear containment are subsiding. Many were forced to sell gold in the past week to cover other positions in the wake of Japan’s disaster, as they also abandoned high-risk investments, and analysts said that risk aversion could drive another round of selling under similar circumstances.

Ole Hansen, Saxo Bank senior manager, said in the report, "It's happening against a backdrop of elevated uncertainty from numerous places, which should give these safe-haven type commodities a bid." He went on to add, "As long as we have this tendency toward risk aversion in the market, gold will be struggling. It's such a high percentage of the total investment in commodities, so if there is anything to be reduced, gold is often in the firing line in that respect."

Good news from Japan, however, boosted equities, with word that engineers had managed to rig power cables to all six Fukushima Daiichi reactors and had restarted a water pump at one to control overheating. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 1.6% at midday, with the MSCI world share index up 0.7% and U.S.futures looking toward a strong open; the S&P 500 was up 1.2% before open and Dow futures were up 1%.