Gold prices settle at record high
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures settled at a new high Wednesday, rising on fears of inflation and worries about the Middle East and North Africa, while silver settled at its best price in three decades.
Gold for April delivery /quotes/comstock/21e!f:gc\j11 (GCJ11 1,432, +0.70, +0.05%) rose $6.50, or 0.5%, to settle at a record $1,437.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It closed at $1,431.20 an ounce in the previous session.
“The bullish breakout to a fresh all-time high has put gold in an outstanding technical position to extend its advance into record territory,” said Richard Ross, global technical strategist at Auerbach Grayson. “The triple top breakout reinforces an already bullish picture and has opened the door to a test of $1,461 an ounce in the short term and $1,634 an ounce by year end.”
Ross said gold’s upwards, stair step-like advance over the past year indicates a solid bull trend rather than a bubble.
Showdown over Libyan oil fields
WSJ's Margaret Coker reports from Tripoli on clashes between Gadhafi forces and rebels over control of oil fields.“Given the continuing strong fundamentals and the concerns of geopolitical instability spreading to Saudi Arabia and other autocratic oil-producing nations, gold and silver look set to challenge $1,500/ounce and $40/ounce [respectively] in the coming weeks,” analysts at Goldcore said in a note to clients Wednesday.
A major contributor to investors’ inflation worries, crude-oil futures in New York changed hands at more than $100 a barrel Wednesday. Crude for April delivery /quotes/comstock/21n!f:cl\j11 (CLJ11 101.85, +2.22, +2.23%) rose $2.67 to $102.30 a barrel. Read more about oil at $100.
The “rising oil prices are strengthening inflation concerns, making precious metals all the more attractive as a store-of-value investment,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a report.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi restated his vow to stay in power, saying that the turmoil roiling his country is a foreign conspiracy, according to media reports Wednesday. Government and rebel forces battled over control of eastern Libya.
Other metals tracked gold and silver higher, but copper retreated as concerns about oil prices denting the economic recovery diminished the industrial metal’s appeal.
Copper for March delivery /quotes/comstock/21e!f1:hg\h11 (HGH11 447.40, -1.65, -0.37%) settle down 1 cent, or 0.2%, to $4.48 a pound.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch. Wallace Witkowski is a MarketWatch news editor in San Francisco.
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