Gold futures rose sharply to a 28-year high in New York early on Thursday on commission-house buying, while platinum futures hit a contract record high due to robust investment demand on a broad-based metals rally on the dollar weakness.
"It's trade-related buying. I think we are looking for sell-stops above the market, especially in gold above $755 an ounce," said one Comex floor trader in New York.
At 10:30 am EDT (1430 GMT), most-active December gold on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was up $8.70 or 1.2 percent at $754.7 an ounce. It hit a low of $745.80 and $756.70 - a fresh 28-year high.
Another New York precious metals dealer said that buying in Asian and European trading sessions lifted gold as the dollar dropped against the euro. He added the market should project higher after breaking through $747.50 on a spot basis, which was the high a week and a half ago.
Gold bullion was quoted at $749.15/749.85, up from the New York Wednesday close at $738.80/739.60. London bullion dealers fixed the afternoon spot reference price at $749.
Meanwhile, investors in gold exchange-traded funds (ETF) showed no signs of retreating as the price of bullion continued to rise. Bullion held by StreetTRACKS Gold Shares, which represents more than 80 percent of the world's gold ETFs, surged to a record high of 585.53 tonnes on Thursday.
Platinum futures hit a lifetime contract high of $1,410 in earlier sessions. Spot platinum also set a record-high of $1,397 an ounce. January platinum jumped $10.5 at $1,408.50 an ounce. Spot platinum was quoted at $1,397/1,402. Nymex December palladium jumped $5.25 or 1.4 percent at $384.40 an ounce after hitting a five-month high of $387. Spot palladium fetched $377/381.
Comex December silver was up 19.7 cents or 1.4 percent at $13.865 an ounce, trading between $13.650 and $13.955. Spot silver was quoted at $13.73/13.78, which was higher than Wednesday's late New York quote of $13.53/13.58. London silver was fixed at $13.67.
Comments
Comments are closed.