Commodities jumped on Friday, headed for their largest weekly gain in more than three years as base metals roared higher after Glencore pledged to slash zinc output and gold hit three-week highs after dovish Federal Reserve minutes.

Base metals were explosive after Glencore’s surprise announcement it will cut zinc output by 500000t/y removing 4% of global capacity, INTL FCStone analyst Ed Meir said.

The news unleashed a wave of short covering across the London Metal Exchange as investors unwound bearish bets on weaker prices and ballooning oversupply as economic growth slows in China, the world’s top consumer.

Zinc soared as much as 12% for its biggest one-day gain in at least a decade. It lifted the rest of the base metals, with lead up almost 5% and nickel rising over 3%. Concerns about an overhang of inventories had pushed prices last month to their lowest in more than five years.

A weaker dollar buoyed other law materials markets, a day after the Federal Reserve released September meeting minutes that reinforced expectations the central bank hold off on any US interest rate hike until well into 2016.

Raw sugar hit seven-months highs and arabica coffee seven-week peaks as dry weather in Brazil fed expectations for tighter suppliers. Wheat, corn and soybeans ticked higher ahead of a US gevenment supply-demand report.

The US dollar index hit a three-week low as commodity and growth-based currencies such as the Australian, Canada and New Zealand dollar rose. US equities rallied.

Gold, often viewed as an alternative to the dollar, hit three-week highs, up more than 1% to $1153/oz. Hamza Khan, head of commodities strategy at ING Bank expects gold to rally late June highs of around $1200 by next week if the bets against a US rate hike persist.

• [Editor:Juan]