EURO ABOVE $1.20

Though the risk-averse mood prevailed across financial markets, the euro appeared immune to the geopolitical news.

The single currency surged above 1.20 to the dollar EUR=EBS, breaching a key level as investors grew bullish about its outlook after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi refrained from talking about the currency’s recent strength and in the backdrop of brewing U.S. fiscal problems.

In commodities, crude prices dipped as the market grappled with the shutdown of some 13 percent of refining capacity in the U.S. after a hurricane ripped through the heart of the country’s oil industry.

International Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 0.7 percent at $51.53 per barrel.

U.S. gasoline price RBc1, which surged as much as 7 percent to a two-year peak of $1.7799 a gallon on Monday, traded at $1.7003 on Tuesday. 

In metals, the drop in the dollar combined with falling inventories in London and Shanghai to push copper to its highest in nearly three years, while nickel also rose sharply. 

A weaker greenback generally makes dollar-priced metals cheaper for non-U.S. investors, boosting demand. 

Benchmark copper CMCU3 rose 2.3 percent to $6,819 per tonne. Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange CMNI3 was up 2.7 percent at $11,795. 

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