COMEX gold extended its rally early Thursday, clearing $410 an ounce, as a faltering dollar and runaway oil prices made the shiny hard asset an easy choice for investors.
Silver hit a four-month high as other precious metals followed gold's lead. "It's all technical, of course, and fund buying. It's the same thing we've seen the last few days," said a bullion trader. "If we get above $410 it looks really healthy."
December gold at 10:36 a.m. EDT (1436 GMT) was up $3.30 at $409.90, shortly after reaching $410.40, its highest since July 19, off a low of $406.40 traded overnight.
"Oil and the dollar are still supporting it," said the trader.
Dealers said sentiment was helped by news from the World Gold Council that Argentina purchased 42 tonnes of gold in the first half of 2004, making it one of a small handful of known official buyers of the monetary reserve metal.
Spot gold was quoted at $406.65/7.40, up from $404.00/4.50 late Wednesday. Thursday's morning fix in London was $406.50.
September silver was up 7.3 cents at $6.91, after touching its highest since April 20 at $6.94, from a low at $6.81.
Spot silver was at $6.86/89, up from $6.82/85. The fix was at $6.82.
October platinum was up $4.10 at $863 an ounce. Spot platinum fetched $862.00/867.00. September palladium was $2.25 higher at $221 an ounce. Spot palladium was quoted at $218.00/223.00.