COMMODITIES-Mostly up as investors take cue from stock market

* Oil up 6 percent, following stock market rally

* Copper surges to 5-month highs

* RJ/CRB index up almost 2 percent

NEW YORK, April 9 - Commodity futures settled mostly higher on Thursday as investors took surging stock markets as a sign an economic recovery may be on the way to bring buyers back to raw materials.

The Reuters-Jefferies CRB, an index that tracks prices across 19 futures markets, finished up almost 2 percent as stocks on Wall Street headed for a fifth straight week of gains.

Among industrial commodities, U.S. crude oil settled up almost 6 percent while copper rose to five-month highs in London and New York.

On the crops side, U.S. soybeans and cocoa settled a touch higher.

Bucking the trend were markets like gold, which fell on the back of a stronger dollar, and corn, hurt by profit-taking ahead of the U.S. Good Friday holiday.

Analysts said almost all commodities were trending closely with equities as investors -- who sometimes watched stock markets more than economic indicators -- tried to get a better read on demand.

"What the commodity markets are attempting to do now, along with the equities markets, is price in exactly what type of recovery we are going to see globally," said Paul Baiocchi, senior market strategist at Delta Global Advisors in Huntington Beach, California.

Crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange, or NYMEX, rose $2.86 to settle at $52.24 a barrel.

Aside from the Wall Street rally, oil prices were supported by data showing a reduced weekly number of workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits.

But the near-term outlook for crude remained skewed to equities, analysts said.

"For the energy complex, we will have to see if equities continue to advance next week," said Gene McGillian at TFS Energy in Stamford, Connecticut "That will likely show whether the energy complex is able to hold on to gains made above $50."

Copper prices surged to their highest levels since late October, driven by the rally in equities and inventory data showing more of the metal may be making its way to China.

U.S. copper for May delivery on the COMEX metals division of NYMEX shot up 7.25 cents, or 3.6 percent, to settle at $2.0710 a lb, its highest level on a closing basis since Oct. 29.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange rose to a session peak at $4,564 a tonne, its highest level since Oct. 30, before closing at $4,550, up $150 from Wednesday's close.

Copper, used widely in power and construction, had lost more than 60 percent of its value in the global economic downturn that came after the metal hit record highs above $4 a lbn on COMEX and nearly $9,000 a tonne on the LME in July.

But falling copper inventories on the LME and steadying economic data, have helped the metal rebound nearly 50 percent since the start of this year, outperforming most commodities.