Gold prices this week broke through US$1,200 for the first time ever, cementing the precious metal’s rapid rise over the past year as nervous traders sought safe-haven investments.
There were meanwhile multi-month highs for silver, platinum and palladium, while cocoa futures struck the highest level for 24 years in London.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold on Thursday struck a record high price of US$1,226.56 on the London Bullion Market after breaking through the US$1,200 barrier for the first time on Tuesday.
Gold has smashed record after record over recent days and weeks on the back of inflationary fears and increasing moves by central banks to diversify assets away from the US dollar, which has weakened against the euro.
After surging above US$1,200, the market is staring “into the unknown,” VTB Capital commodities analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.
“Resistance could yet prove to be very strong and we are looking for a sustained push above it to signal gains to US$1,230/50,” he said. “There is little doubt that the market remains bullish and even though we expect trading to subside later this month, the downside is still limited. At the moment we favor little profit-taking.”
The price of gold has soared by more than 55 percent in value over the past 12 months.
Gold prices have won support from central bank purchases of the metal.
The IMF last week said it had sold 10 tonnes of gold to Sri Lanka’s central bank for US$375 million as part of a restructuring of its financial resources.
The record run for gold comes also after a recent newspaper report that India was mulling the purchase of more IMF gold reserves.
Gold’s jump dragged silver to a 16-month high of US$19.46 an ounce. Platinum achieved a 15-month peak of US$1,510.30 and platinum hit US$392.25 — a level not seen since July last year.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold gained to US$1,190.25 an ounce from US$1,166.50 a week earlier.
Silver grew to US$18.83 an ounce from US$17.98.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum climbed to US$1,472 an ounce at the late fixing on Friday from US$1,426 the previous week.
Palladium increased to US$378 an ounce from US$358.
OIL: Oil prices rose thanks to a strong finish to the week following news of shrinking unemployment in the US, the world’s biggest energy-consuming nation.
Oil prices had fallen on Friday ahead of the jobs data owing to concerns about poor energy demand, traders said.
By Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), light sweet crude for delivery in January jumped to US$77.61 compared with US$74.90 a week earlier.
On London’s InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for January delivery climbed to US$79.48 from US$76.10 a week earlier.
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