Gold futures in New York rallied to a two-week high early on Wednesday, propelled by fund and investor buying on the back of positive technicals and fundamentals, traders said.
By 10:17 am EST, February delivery gold was up $10, or 2 percent, at $520.10 an ounce at the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, and near the top of a session range from $509.70 to $520.20.
Futures reached their highest level since December 14 after breaking above stiff resistance at the $513-$515 area earlier, as speculative buying and short covering helped prices recover this week following a steep pullback before Christmas.
"Gold's moving up on its technicals and I think it's new buying here today," a head dealer at a bank in New York said.
"There's broader participation here with Europe back from their holidays and some tidying up before the year is through -- maybe some short covering and fresh positioning across all markets," he added.
COMEX gold has risen 5.3 percent since touching a one-month low at $492.30 twice last week, on Wednesday and Thursday.
For the year futures are up 20 percent as investors diversify into the metal from currencies, stocks and bonds amid worries about rising energy costs and other uncertainties.
Bullion rose sharply after breaking above resistance at $510 an ounce. It has strengthened by 5.5 percent since falling to a one-month low near $489 last week.
Spot gold was quoted at $516.00/6.70, versus $507.50/508.30 at Tuesday's New York close.
The day's peak of $517.20 was its priciest level since December 14. The Wednesday morning fix in London by bullion dealers was at $509.15. Bullion surged to its highest in almost 25 years on December 12, at $540.90.
Looking to COMEX gold, many analysts expect it to target December's near 25-year high at $544.50 early in 2006. March silver rose 16.3 cents to $8.975 an ounce, trading from $8.785 to $8.99, its highest since December 12. Spot silver climbed to $8.89/92 an ounce, from $8.71/74 previously. It fixed at $8.76.
NYMEX January platinum gained $8.60 to $974 an ounce. Dominating trading was rollover into April futures before first notice day for January delivery next week.
Spot platinum last was at $969/973 an ounce. Thinly traded March palladium surged $10 to $268 an ounce. Spot was at $261/265.
Comments
Comments are closed.