Tokyo gold futures closed higher on Tuesday, taking a cue from the New York market, but a flurry of bargain hunting trimmed the market's gains and pulled the benchmark contract off a 15-year peak.
Investors' faith in gold's strength remained intact, however, with buying emerging on dips. The benchmark October gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange finished up 13 yen per gram at 2,002 yen, after rising to a peak of 2,020 yen, the highest for TOCOM's benchmark gold since August 1990.
The day's trough was 1,990 yen. Other months rose by five to 17 yen. "There was also some arbitrage today with overseas markets that pressured (TOCOM)," a Tokyo analyst said. Investors have aggressively chased gold, now up about 44 percent from the beginning of the year, due to worries about inflation and a wish to diversify their portfolios.
Recently a weak yen has also helped buoy TOCOM gold. US gold futures rose to a 23-year peak on Monday as investors snapped up more of the precious metal. All precious metals futures made new life-of-contract highs during the session as fund buying from Asia and Europe spilled over to New York.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division, February delivery gold jumped $5.60 to finish at $512.60 an ounce, after trading from $506.80 to $512.90, which was the highest for a benchmark futures contract since February 1983.