Gold surged beyond the $970-an-ounce mark on Tuesday as other commodity prices tumbled with the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index sinking to a six-and-a-half year low, down 3.2 per cent on the day.

Gold reached a fresh seven-month high at $972.65 a troy ounce, before easing back to $971.10, up 3.2 per cent, helped by strong buying interest in Asia after the Japanese economy shrank 3.3 per cent in the final quarter of last year.