03 February 2012, 1:43 p.m.
By Kitco News
http://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) - Analysts with Barclays Capital, in their monthly commodity rankings, gave a “heavily overweight” rating to the base- and precious-metals sectors, “slightly overweight” to agriculture and “underweight” to energy. “Better-than-expected economic data have helped to ease concerns over the outlook for global growth,” Barclays says. “The improvement in manufacturing PMIs (Purchasing Managers Indexes) in particular bodes well for metals demand.” Analysts rank individual commodities each month, with a five representing “a very strong market” and a one for “a very weak market.” Barclays did not assign any fives for February but listed several metals among the fours, including aluminum, copper, lead, gold and silver. Platinum and palladium were assigned threes.