Commodities slump on China crisis

Many commodities faced a fierce sell-off earlier this week, rooted in demand fears arising from China's slowdown, but later rebounded in line with equities after surprisingly strong US growth data. World stock markets were hammered on Black Monday -- with Shanghai collapsing by almost 8.50 percent -- as risk-averse investors dumped shares and many commodities over panic that the flagging Chinese economy could spark a new world recession. Base or industrial metals were among the hardest hit, with