Commodities are hot this week, striking gold quite literally so to speak.

Platinum set a record for the second straight day Tuesday , and gold is on track to hit $1,000 an ounce on expectations of further U.S. interest rate cuts and record high crude oil.

Along with booming metals prices, oil prices are near an all time peak and agricultural commodities are also trading at record highs as supply shortages and investment flows pump up prices.

The concerns that the U.S. economy is at or entering a recession are creating a cycle: a plunging dollar sparks a rally in commodity prices, which in turn hit stocks further as a weakening global economy may now also have to deal with inflationary pressures.

And it is against this backdrop that Australian resource giant BHP Billiton has issued its bid for rival Rio Tinto .

Melbourne-based BHP, the world's biggest mining company, in early February, formally proposed an all-share deal, to buy London-based Rio Tinto, in what would create a vast resources company. This has sparked off a lot of interest and trade in the the shares of the two firms, as well as a number of requests to chart the stock. Both companies are listed on exchanges in Australia and Britain. BHP also has American Depository Receipts (ADR) listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

China's securities regulator, in a fresh effort to prevent a stock market crash, warned companies against making big issues of new shares that could push down the market.

On Monday, China's securities regulator, in a fresh effort to prevent a stock market crash, warned companies against raising large sums of capital through the issue of new shares. The warnings reflect the alarm felt by Chinese authorities over the sagging stock market. The Shanghai Composite Index is now 32 percent below a record high of 6,092, hit last October.

This week, we delve into the world of natural resources and chart the Chinese company, Chalco. Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have dominated the headlines of late, with BHP aggressively pursuing a bid to acquire Rio.

Asia is celebrating the new Lunar Year -- the Year of the Rat. Rats were welcomed in ancient times as a protector and bringer of material prosperity. We decided that the best way to herald in a year of prosperity, was to kick off a brand new column! Charting Asia features our regular CNBC Asia contributor Daryl Guppy of guppytraders.com . Every week, Daryl will review, analyze and chart his way through a company, a commodity or currency making waves in Asia.

Our inaugural column features a long time favorite commodity in Asia -- gold. Spot gold hit a lifetime high of $928.60 just a couple of weeks ago. Platinum hit a record high for the ninth straight trading session on Tuesday as a power crisis in South Africa, which produces some 80 percent of the world's metal, took its toll on output. Precious metals are hot commodities and this is how gold is charting.

The weekly gold chart includes several interesting technical features. The dominant trend line is Trend Line A. It commences in mid-2005 and defines the central trend that has dominated the gold price. A lower, and parallel trend line started in 2006, October. This trend line was broken in 2007 July by a sideways consolidation. However, the lower Trend Line B provides a strong support feature in the current rising trend.