* Technical breakout after prices breach key resistance
* Silver hits 31-year peaks as oil, grains hit new highs
* Bernanke suggests Fed's resolve to complete stimulus
* Coming up: US FOMC March meeting minutes 1800 GMT, Tues
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity, adds comments)
By Frank Tang
NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - Gold jumped to an all-time
high above $1,450 an ounce on Tuesday, as new peaks for crude
and corn prices fanned inflation fears and Portuguese credit
downgrade drew attention back to euro zone woes.
Bullion rose more than 1 percent, its biggest gain after a
month of range-bound trading, while silver soared to a 31-year
peak. Both drew support from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke's comments late on Monday suggesting he was committed
to completing a $600 billion stimulus program as scheduled in
June.
On technical charts, gold broke above a double-top
technical formation around $1,440 an ounce. This added to a
rush of buying triggered by news that Portugal's leading banks
threatened to stop buying government debt hours after a Moody's
downgrade. []
"What it shows is that big money continues to believe gold
will go higher...because Bernanke wants to grow at any cost,"
said Axel Merk, portfolio manager of the $600 million Merk
Mutual Funds. "The other reason for gold to go up is that there
was a downgrade in Portugal, so people realize there are still
some issues."
Spot gold <XAU=> was up 0.9 percent to $1,449.65 an ounce
at 12:50 a.m. EDT (1650 GMT), off the session high, a record
$1,452.34 an ounce.
U.S. gold futures for June delivery <GCM1> rose 1.3 percent
to $1,451.50 in decent trading volume.
"There has been aggressive selling between the $1,438 and
$1,441 level over the course of the past several weeks. Once
gold got through $1,441 an ounce, the pressure was off," said
investor Dennis Gartman, publisher of the Gartman Letter.
Silver <XAG=> gained 1.8 percent to $39.12 an ounce, after
hitting a session high of $39.19. That was the highest since
the Hunt Brothers cornered the market in the early 1980s, when
silver briefly hit a record of just below $50 an ounce.
Silver has outperformed gold in recent months, rising 22
percent in the first quarter compared with gold's 0.7 percent.
The gold:silver ratio, which shows how many silver ounces are
needed to buy an ounce of gold, fell to a 28-year low at 37.3.
(Graphic: http://r.reuters.com/seh88r )
Rising oil and grain prices boosted gold's appeal as an
inflation hedge. Brent crude rose to a 2-1/2-year highs on
geopolitical risks to supply from the Middle East, while corn
futures hit a record high on persistent worries over tight
supplies. [] []
FED MONETARY POLICIES EYED
On Monday, Bernanke said an increase in U.S. inflation has
been driven primarily by rising commodity prices globally, and
was unlikely to persist.
His comments contrasted with those of other U.S. central
bank officials, some of whom called for tighter monetary
policy. [] Those comments weighed on sentiment of
bullion investors, even though most economists agree the Fed
will not tighten monetary policy in the short term.
Investors will seek more clues about the Fed's intentions
when minutes of the March policy meeting are released at 2:00
p.m. EDT.
Last November, the Fed initiated a $600 billion bond buying
program, dubbed QE2 because it is the second round of
quantitative easing. The program is scheduled to end in June.
Gold has been a major beneficiary since the Fed has kept
short-term rates near zero since December 2008.
Gold is also benefiting from concerns that some smaller
euro zone economies such as Portugal and Ireland will keep
struggling with sovereign debt, and from jitters over Western
air strikes in Libya and unrest in the Middle East.
Earlier in the session, gold fell in tandem with other
commodities after China raised interest rates for the second
time this year. (Graphic of China rate hikes:
http://r.reuters.com/veh88r )
For platinum group metals, platinum <XPT=> rose 0.7 percent
to $1,791.99 an ounce, while palladium <XPD=> also gained 0.8
percent to $785.97.
Prices at 12:50 p.m. EDT (1650 GMT)
LAST NET PCT YTD
CHG CHG CHG
US gold <GCM1> 1451.50 18.50 1.3% 2.1%
US silver <SIK1> 39.150 0.656 1.7% 26.5%
US platinum <PLN1> 1799.00 12.00 0.7% 1.2%
US palladium <PAM1> 789.00 4.60 0.6% -1.8%
Gold <XAU=> 1449.65 13.10 0.9% 2.1%
Silver <XAG=> 39.12 0.70 1.8% 26.8%
Platinum <XPT=> 1791.99 12.54 0.7% 1.4%
Palladium <XPD=> 785.97 6.47 0.8% -1.7%
Gold Fix <XAUFIX=> 1433.50 -1.00 -0.1% 1.6%
Silver Fix <XAGFIX=> 38.08 -38.00 -1.0% 24.3%
Platinum Fix <XPTFIX=> 1787.00 1.00 0.1% 3.2%
Palladium Fix <XPDFIX=> 780.00 5.00 0.6% -1.4%
(Additional reporting by Jan Harvey and Silvia Antonioli in
London; Editing by David Gregorio)
