Gold rose a further $3 an ounce on Thursday despite a rise in the dollar as investors bet that bullion's recent strength would continue as the year drew to a close.
Spot gold at $516.50/$517.25 an ounce was above the $513.70 last recorded in New York on Wednesday, which marked a gain of more than $6 from the previous day.
On December 12, bullion climbed to $540.90 an ounce, the highest in almost 25 years. "Gold's finding support as the year comes to an end and gold's performance becomes evident," one bullion dealer said.
With two trading days remaining in 2005, gold was showing a 16 percent gain on the year. Currency markets offered little incentive to buy gold in Asia, with the US dollar striking a two-week high against the yen and the Tawian dollar also weaker.
Historically, a strong US dollar encourages gold sales in foreign currencies because gold is priced in dollars.
But in recent weeks currency markets have loosened their grip on gold, enabling supply and demand factors to hold sway over prices, according to commodity analysts.
Global demand for gold in the third quarter rose 7 percent to 838 tonnes from the year-ago quarter, a tally by the industry-funded World Gold Council showed.
Platinum was $2 up at $969.00/$974.00 an ounce. Sister metal palladium rose $1 to $259.00/$263.00 an ounce. Spot silver rose 3 cents to $8.87/8.91 an ounce.
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