* Brent and U.S. crude both at 9-month highs

* Gold reaches new 3-month highs; cocoa tumbles

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Brent crude hit a fresh nine-month high and a record in euro terms on Thursday as heightened tensions with Iran lifted oil markets and inflation fears sent gold to a three-month high.

Cocoa sunk 4 percent for its sharpest one-day loss in three weeks, while raw sugar backed off from Wednesday's four-month peaks, trimming gains across the commodities complex.

The 19-commodity Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index rose 0.2 percent -- its second straight day of modest gains -- on varying reactions from energy, metals and agricultural markets to escalating Iran-West tensions, Greece's latest bailout and positive German business confidence data.

Oil dominated play as crude prices in both London and New York rose to nine-month highs.

Brent crude hit a record 93.60 euros per barrel in early trade, exceeding the previous peak of 93.46 on July 3, 2008. In dollar terms, Brent finished the session up nearly 1 percent at $123.62 a barrel.

Week-to-date, Brent prices have risen nearly 2.5 percent. The rally creates a new headache for cash-strapped Europe amid worries that high oil prices and a relatively strong dollar were going to further dent its shaky economy.

"The issues around the euro zone translate into a much stronger dollar so Europe as a whole is not spared the rise in oil prices as it was back in 2008, when they enjoyed the buffer that their currency provided in relation to the price rise in dollar terms," said BNP commodity strategist Harry Tchilinguirian.

U.S. crude settled at $107.83, gaining 1.5 percent, after climbing to $108.05 earlier -- its highest since May 2011.

Gold was headed for its biggest one-week rally in a month while platinum hit five-month peaks.

Spot gold, which tracks trades in bullion, was just below $1,780 an ounce late Thursday afternoon in New York, versus Wednesday's comparative price of $1,775.79. The session high was $1,787.11.

Spot platinum breached $1,730 an ounce the first time since September. The run-up came after Wednesday's news that an illegal strike at No. 2 platinum miner Impala 's Rustenburg mine was likely to cut customer deliveries in April by about half.

U.S. cocoa futures tumbled on technical selling, falling below their 100-day moving averages and triggering automatic sell orders.

New York-traded cocoa for May delivery closed down $94, or 3.9 percent, at $2,344 a tonne, after dropping to a session low at $2,307, a fall of 5.4 percent.

Copper fell for a second straight day on Thursday, pressured by tepid Chinese buying at the start of the year and expectations of recession in the euro zone and its negative demand implications for industrial metals.

Prices at 3:38 p.m. EST (2038 GMT)

LAST/ NET PCT YTD

CLOSE CHG CHG CHG US crude 108.05 1.76 1.7% 9.3% Brent crude 123.86 0.96 0.8% 15.3% Natural gas 2.621 -0.022 -0.8% -12.3% US gold 1786.30 15.00 0.8% 14.0% Gold 1779.64 3.85 0.2% 13.8% US Copper 380.60 -2.75 -0.7% 10.8%

Dollar 78.659 -0.552 -0.7% -1.9% CRB 323.400 0.540 0.2% 5.9% US corn 639.50 1.25 0.2% -1.1% US soybeans 1276.75 4.50 0.4% 6.5% US wheat 641.75 -2.75 -0.4% -1.7% US Coffee 202.05 0.20 0.1% -11.5% US Cocoa 2344.00 -94.00 -3.9% 11.1% US Sugar 25.94 0.18 0.7% 11.7% US silver 35.556 1.302 3.8% 27.4% US platinum 1723.00 2.20 0.1% 22.6% US palladium 718.40 0.65 0.1% 9.5% (Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

First Published: 2012-02-23 00:27:14
Updated 2012-02-23 23:07:11





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