Thursday, December 3, 2009

Gold hits record above $1,217 an ounce on strong demand

By Moming Zhou & Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rose Wednesday to close at a fresh high for the 19th session since the beginning of November, briefly topping $1,217 an ounce as demand for the metal as a hedge against a weaker currency remained strong with the dollar staying around 15-month lows.
Gold futures have soared 37% this year, and have made gains in 17 out of the past 20 weeks. They advanced in all but two trading sessions in November, and started December with two days of gains.
The rally came as speculative buying positions on the Comex futures exchange stayed at record highs, and holdings for gold exchange-traded funds hit another record.
In Wednesday trading, December gold rose as high as $1,217.30 an ounce in overnight electronic trading, surpassing the record set in the previous session. It ended up $12.90, or 1.1%, at $1,212 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The London afternoon gold fixing, a global benchmark for gold trading, stood at a record high of $1,212.50 an ounce Wednesday, up nearly 40% this year.
"While there is certainly an end to the party, we remain of the belief that the end of the secular bull market in gold will not be occurring any time soon," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak Co.

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