Rising goods prices turning out some healthy mutual fund gains

NEW YORK — The rising commodities prices that have created so many headaches for consumers and businesses in recent months managed to reward some mutual fund investors in the second quarter, giving them the only healthy gains in what has been a generally dismal market.

Preliminary figures from fund tracker Lipper Inc. show that funds focused on commodities and raw materials had the biggest gains of any fund category in the April-to-June period.

Natural resources funds posted 20.84 percent returns for the quarter and 15.54 percent for the year, while global natural resources funds have shown returns of 15.73 percent for the quarter and 10.78 percent for 2008.

Commodities funds showed a 19.29 percent return in the quarter and 29.83 percent so far this year and basic materials funds returned 7.42 percent for the quarter and 3.40 percent year-to-date.

The gains reflect soaring commodities prices during the quarter. Crude oil most notably has passed $140 a barrel, while gold, although down from its highs above $1,000 an ounce, is still selling in the $900 range.

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