Gold futures topped $475 an ounce early Thursday as commercial players and funds continued to run the precious metal toward last week's watershed highs against a backdrop of sky-high energy prices.
"It looks like some trade started buying in here," said a floor broker. "I think it must have been some physical buying because they all came in at once. There is some light fund buying, but not as much as we've seen earlier."
December gold at the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was up $1.90 at $475 at 9:52 am EDT (1352 GMT), trading between $476.70 and $471.54.
The benchmark gold contract was about $4 away from the 18-year high reached on September 22 at $479 per ounce.
Gold is in fashion as a safe haven and inflation hedge, with oil and gasoline prices near record highs and persistent doubts about how the US economy will weather the damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
New money has poured into the market, with extra liquidity offered by new gold-backed investment products, including exchange traded funds like streetTracks and IShares COMEX Gold Trust.
For now, the market seems to have upward momentum, traders said. Still, record open interest in gold futures on the COMEX has some worried that the market is overextended.
Spot gold was quoted at $473.00/3.80, up from the close at $469.05/9.75 in New York. Thursday's late fix in London was $472.40.
December silver was up 9.2 cents at $7.495 an ounce, having dealt at $7.39 and $7.525, where it matched the three-month high reached on September 22.
Spot silver was quoted at $7.42/45, up from $7.33/36. It fixed at $7.40.
October platinum was 50 cents higher at $922 an ounce. Spot platinum fetched $924/929.
December palladium was 40 cents softer at $200.90 an ounce. Spot palladium was at $196/199.