Sector Snap: Major metals, both base and precious, gaining

The euro hit a fresh all-time high against the U.S. dollar of $1.597 after U.S. inflation data showed benign core consumer price index data, which makes it easier for the nation's central bank to keep lowering interest rates.

The Energy Department said in its weekly stockpile report that the nation's supplies of crude oil and petroleum products were lower than expected. That lifted crude oil above the $114-per-barrel level for the first time.

Total inventories of aluminum, copper, nickel and zinc remain at historically low levels, supporting current high prices, H. Fraser Phillips of RBC Capital Markets wrote in a client note.

Gold, for example, traded in London at $947.80 per troy ounce, up from $927.10 late Tuesday.

In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Diversified Metals & Mining Index jumped 5.4 percent as shares of steel, aluminum, gold, copper, silver, molybdenum, lead, nickel and uranium producers climbed sharply.

Shares of Barrick Gold Corp. rose $2.24, or 5.2 percent, to $45.72. Kinross Gold Corp. rose $1.46, 6.2 percent, to $25.17, and Century Aluminum Co. rose $3.63, or 5.2 percent, to $72.15.

Molybdenum producer General Moly Inc. rose 59 cents, or 6.4 percent, to $9.87, silver producer Hecla Mining Co. rose 70 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $12.95 and Steel Dynamics Inc. rose $2.46, or 7 percent, to $37.51.

General Steel Holdings Inc. was up 37 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $7.04, Mechel Open Joint Stock Co. rose $7.91, or 5.7 percent, to $147.91 and United States Steel Corp. rose $6.22, or 4.2 percent, to $152.92.