* U.S. gold futures briefly above $1,500/oz
* Euro zone debt, U.S. deficit fears keep markets on edge
* Coming up: U.S. existing home sales on Wednesday
(Recasts, adds comment, updates prices, market activity,
changes byline, dateline, previously LONDON)
By Frank Tang
NEW YORK, April 19 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures hit an
all-time high above $1,500 an ounce on Tuesday on a combination
of dollar decline, recovering crude oil prices and worries
about sovereign debt problems in Europe.
Bullion rose to a record for a second straight day, as
investors bought gold as a hedge against economic uncertainty
after Standard & Poor's on Monday revised the credit outlook of
the United States to negative from stable.
"It's follow-through buying from yesterday after the market
had absorbed an initial bout of profit-taking. The recovery of
oil prices and the euro have combined to take gold to the
$1,500 level," said James Steel, chief commodity analyst of
HSBC.
U.S. gold futures for June delivery <GCM1> rose 60 cents to
$1,493.50 by 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT), having earlier hit a
record $1,500.50 an ounce.
Spot gold <XAU=> was down 0.2 percent at $1,492.44 an
ounce, bouncing off a high of $1,499.31.
Risky assets were hit by a double-whammy on Monday after
fears mounted that Greece will have to restructure its debt,
maybe as early as this summer, and S&P threatened to cut the
United States' AAA credit rating.
Silver <XAG=> also set a 31-year high of $43.79 an ounce,
and was later up 0.4 percent at $43.49 an ounce.
Silver has outperformed gold this year, up more than 40
percent so far against gold's 5 percent rise. The gold/silver
ratio slipped to a 28-year low below 35 on Monday.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Graphic showing gold:silver ratio:
http://r.reuters.com/jyx88r
Graphic showing gold prices in inflation-adjusted terms:
http://r.reuters.com/ren88r
Graphic showing commodity performance:
http://r.reuters.com/duj88r
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
Among other precious metals, platinum <XPT=> slipped 0.4
percent to $1,764.74 an ounce, while palladium <XPD=> dropped
1.5 percent to $728.47.
Prices at 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT)
LAST NET PCT YTD
CHG CHG CHG
US gold <GCM1> 1493.50 0.60 0.1% 5.1%
US silver <SIK1> 43.500 0.539 1.3% 40.6%
US platinum <PLN1> 1770.30 -12.50 -0.7% -0.4%
US palladium <PAM1> 731.85 -7.25 -1.0% -8.9%
Gold <XAU=> 1492.44 -2.64 -0.2% 5.1%
Silver <XAG=> 43.49 0.17 0.4% 40.9%
Platinum <XPT=> 1764.74 -7.91 -0.4% -0.2%
Palladium <XPD=> 728.47 -11.46 -1.5% -8.9%
Gold Fix <XAUFIX=> 1490.50 -4.50 -0.3% 5.7%
Silver Fix <XAGFIX=> 43.22 43.00 1.0% 41.1%
Platinum Fix <XPTFIX=> 1780.00 2.00 0.1% 2.8%
Palladium Fix <XPDFIX=> 737.00 1.00 0.1% -6.8%
(Additional reporting by Jan Harvey in London; Editing by Lisa
Shumaker)
