Gold settles at new 7-week high
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Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange further climbed on Thursday, refreshing its 7-week record. |
Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange further climbed on Thursday, refreshing its 7-week record, on the back of unrest in Libya and other Middle East countries.
The most active gold contract for April delivery rose 1.8 dollar per ounce, or 0.1 percent, to settle at 1,415.8 dollars.
Market analysts said that the gold price is still underpinned by the situation in Libya and by fears that the unrest might spread over to other oil-producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Besides, the inflationary concerns after the surge in world oil price also helped buoy up the market, as investors buy gold as a hedge against inflation.
Mike Daly, a gold analyst with Pfgbest, said that higher crude prices are inflationary and would be "bullish" for both gold and silver, and that the gold price should continue to be supported by these geo-political tensions.
However, the increase shrank on Thursday, as the market lacked fresh support.
A trader noted that it is still too hard to say how the Libyan crisis will play out and what its implications will be for the market going forward. "If the government falls, we could see a sharp drop in the fear premium now embedded in gold and oil markets," said the trader.
But in the long term, the good prospects for gold prices are still intact, as "risk aversion and the inflation risks in connection with the oil-price trend should provide further upward lift on the gold market in the coming days," said an analyst.
March silver lost 13.2 cents, or 0.4 percent, to 33.166 dollars an ounce. Meanwhile, platinum for April delivery grew 10.1 cents, or 0.6 percent, to 1,786.8 dollars per ounce.
