TOKYO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Gold hit a historic high for a
second straight day on Wednesday as fresh funds from investors
poured into the market, supported by a bearish outlook for the
dollar and strong oil prices.
Spot gold <XAU=> surged to a fresh record of $891.00 an
ounce, surpassing the previous record of $881.10 reached on
Tuesday after the market gained momentum as the key Japanese gold
futures price <0#JAU:> hit their highest since March 1984.
By 0059 GMT, cash gold was trading at $890.60/891.40 compared
with late New York levels of $878.10/878.90.
The key gold futures contract for December 2008 delivery
<0#JAU:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rose as high as
3,154 yen per gram, the highest for a benchmark since March 1984.
"Gold is bullish. Funds are pouring into markets as they are
performing well when stocks are slumping," said Tatsuo Kageyama,
an analyst at Kanetsu Asset Management in Tokyo.
"The speed of gold's rise is very fast but the market is
focusing on taking gold towards $900 in the near term."
COMEX gold futures rose more than 1.5 percent in Asia from
New York on Tuesday. The most active February contract <GCG8> was
up $13.60 or 1.5 percent from New York at $893.90.
Gold was gaining in appeal as the market sought higher
returns with U.S. shares slumping and prospects for the U.S.
economy deteriorating, especially after poor jobs data last week.
U.S. stocks fell sharply on Tuesday after phone company AT&T
<T.N> said it was experiencing softness in its consumer business,
sparking more concerns about the economy.
Investors were also convinced to buy gold due to lingering
geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, rising energy prices
and weakness in the dollar.
U.S. crude oil futures advanced on Wednesday after gaining
over a dollar in the previous session amid threats of violence in
Nigeria and expectations that U.S. government data due out later
in the day will show another fall in crude supplies last week.
Frontmonth U.S. crude for February delivery <CLc1> was up 25
cents at $96.58 a barrel on the Globex electronic trading
platform after settling up $1.24 at $96.33 a day earlier.
NYMEX crude hit a record $100.09 last week.
Other precious metals rose in line with gold, with platinum
advancing near a record high.
Platinum <XPT=> rose to $1,552/1,557 an ounce from
$1,547/$1,552 in New York. Platinum had reached a record high of
$1,553 on Friday.
Palladium <XPD=> was little changed at $376/380 an ounce from
late New York level of $376/$379.
Silver <XAG=> rose to $15.82/15.87 an ounce from $15.70/15.75
late in New York.
Precious metals prices at 0057 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 890.40 13.30 +1.52 6.93
Spot Silver 15.84 0.19 +1.21 7.24
Spot Platinum 1552.00 5.00 +0.32 2.11
Spot Palladium 376.00 0.00 +0.00 2.17
TOCOM Gold 3150.00 53.00 +1.71 2.94 48863
TOCOM Platinum 5366.00 53.00 +1.00 0.51 14129
TOCOM Silver 561.70 16.30 +2.99 3.83 656
TOCOM Palladium 1349.00 16.00 +1.20 -0.15 277
Euro/Dollar 1.4714
Dollar/Yen 109.03
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except for silver which is in yen
per 10 grams, spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo, Editing by Michael Watson)
