BRUSSELS (Bloomberg) — Billionaire George Soros said the boom in commodities is still in a "growth phase" after prices for oil, wheat and gold rose to records.

"There is a commodity bubble which is still in the growth phase," Soros said yesterday at an event sponsored by the Centre for European Studies in Brussels.

Commodities are in their seventh year of gains, with oil rising to a record $115.54 a barrel yesterday as the dollar plunged to a record against the euro. Commodities have outpaced stocks and bonds this year, spurring investors to increase holdings in wheat, gold, copper and tin, which climbed to all-time highs.

Investments in commodities rose by more than a fifth in the first quarter to $400 billion, Citigroup Inc. said April 7.

The UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Index of 26 commodities has returned 20 percent this year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of stocks has fallen 7.3 percent. US Treasuries have returned investors three percent, according to Merrill Lynch & Co. indexes.

Soros's comments echo those of Jim Rogers, a fellow founder of the Quantum Hedge Fund in the 1970s. Rogers is best known for being a commodities bull since the late 1990s, before the market started to rally in 2001. His Rogers International Commodity Index has more than quadrupled since its start in 1998.

Soros, 77, earned an estimated $2.9 billion last year, ranking second after John Paulson, founder of New York-based Paulson & Co., according to Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine.