Global oil prices surged to their highest level since May 2012 as turmoil in Egypt and expectations of tighter US stocks propped up buying. In New York the benchmark WTI contract for August delivery finished at $US103.53, up 39 US cents from Monday. In London Brent North Sea crude for August was 38 US cents higher at $US107.81 a barrel. A new Egyptian interim government was named, prompting hope street violence would ebb, while the IMF forecast the world economy would expand by just 3.1 per cent this year, lower than the 3.3 per cent it forecast three months ago. The IMF said it expected oil to lose 4.7 per cent. Gold futures climbed as investors bet that rising inflation in China will stoke demand for the metal as a hedge against rising prices in the second-largest gold consumer. The most actively traded contract, for August delivery, on Tuesday rose $US11, or 0.9 per cent, to settle at $US1,245.90 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Chinese consumer prices rose in June at the fastest pace since February, according to government data released on Tuesday. Platinum for October delivery settled up 0.5 per cent at $US1,368.60 a troy ounce on the Nymex. Palladium for September delivery rose 0.3 per cent to $US697.35 a troy ounce. Copper closed at its lowest level in more than two weeks on the London Metal Exchange (LME), weighed by persistent worries over Chinese metals demand and improved supply of the copper to the market. At the PM kerb close on Tuesday, LME three-month copper was down 1.5 per cent at $US6,729 a metric ton, its lowest settlement since June 24. Aluminum ended the session 0.7 per cent lower at $US1,790 a ton. Chinese economic data failed to impress. While Chinese consumer prices rose 2.7 per cent on the year in June, the country's producer price index fell 2.7 per cent. The fall in China's PPI is "another indication of faltering demand at the factory level amid excess capacity" in China, said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.