Gold Soars To Record Highs
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Published on Bloomberg, Gold Gains for Third Day to Seven-Month High in Asia on Demand
Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Gold advanced for a third day in Asia, climbing to the highest price since July as the deepening global recession drove investors to purchase bullion as a store of value.
Low interest rate environments and spending by governments also prompted investors to buy the metal as an alternative to declining currencies. Gold priced in euros and pounds rose to all-time highs today, while bullion in Australian and New Zealand dollars and in South African rand reached records yesterday.
“Safe haven or flight-to-quality demand remains the driving force behind rising gold prices, as global economic and financial market uncertainties continue,” Toby Hassall, research analyst at Commodity Warrants Australia, said in a weekly note today.
Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.4 percent to $974.32 an ounce, before trading at $973.17 at 2:06 p.m. in Singapore. Gold for April delivery was up 0.7 percent at $974.40 in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
“Investment demand for gold is also benefiting from increased inflationary concerns resulting from expansionary monetary and fiscal policies,” said Hassall.
Gold holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange- traded fund backed by bullion, gained to a record 1,008.8 metric tons as of yesterday, placing it just behind the 1,040 tons held by Switzerland, the world’s sixth-largest stockpile.
December-delivery gold in Tokyo was up 1.5 percent at 2,898 yen a gram ($976 an ounce), while Shanghai gold for June delivery gained 2.1 percent to 213.59 yuan a gram ($972 an ounce).
Gold Record
Gold futures in Dubai and India also climbed to their highest today, tracking gains in the international markets.
Bullion for April delivery on the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange surged to $974.70 per ounce, the highest since the exchange began trading gold futures in 2006. April-delivery gold on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. gained to 15,608 rupees ($313) for 10 grams, the highest since trading started in 2003.
“As government treasuries increase money supply and central banks lower the price of money via interest rate reductions, the relatively finite supply of gold means the yellow metal is less prone to devaluation in high inflation environments,” said Hassall. “Silver prices should also benefit from strong investment demand which is likely to more than offset weak industrial demand prospects.”
Among other precious metals for immediate delivery, silver gained 1.2 percent to $14.305 an ounce, platinum was 1.3 percent higher at $1,105 an ounce, and palladium declined 0.3 percent to $218.75 an ounce as of 2:11 p.m. in Singapore.
Published on India's Economic Times, Gold at all-time high of Rs 15,800 per 10 gm in Delhi
The precious metal recorded fresh gains of Rs 50 to Rs 15,800, a level never seen before, after poor economic data of Russia and Japan raised concerns of a growing malaise of global recession.
Jewellers and market analysts said the demand of the yellow metal picked up after the global equity and forex markets dropped in the recent past.
They said shaky investors find no other option but to park their funds in the precious metals, while physical buying for the current marriage season declined substantially.
"We do not see any customers these days as surging gold prices cooled down the demand for jewellery in this marriage season," said a Delhi-based Jeweller Gaurav Anand.
A similar firming trend in other regional bullion markets in the country also dampened trading sentiment to a great extent. In Kolkata, the gold opened at a record high of Rs 15,925 per 10 gram.
Meanwhile, gold in futures trading touched a new high by rising 0.88 per cent to Rs 15,712 per 10 gram at the MCX counter.
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