MW: Gold rises as dollar slides; crude climbs to seven-week high
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rose Monday, trading above $1,050 an ounce as a falling U.S. dollar and rising crude prices boosted the metal's appeal as a hedge against a weaker currency and potential inflation.
Crude topped $73 a barrel and rose to the highest level in seven weeks. Other commodities were also mostly higher on Monday.
Gold for October delivery rose $7, or 0.7%, to $1,054.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rallied 4.4% last week. It reached a record high above $1,060 on Thursday.
Gold rose on "continued dollar weakness," said George Gero, a precious-metals trader for RBC Capital Markets.
Higher crude kept "the buyers and sellers coming to add liquidity, now we may have a new higher trading range of $990 to $1,075."
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD 103.74, +0.90, +0.87%) , the biggest gold exchange-traded fund, stood at 1,109.31 metric tons Friday, unchanged for a third session.
In currencies, remarks by Federal Reserve officials over the weekend allowed the U.S. dollar to gain ground on major rivals Monday, but the greenback soon fell as equities rallied ahead of a heavy flow of corporate earnings data this week. See Currencies.
Also in metals trading, December silver futures rose 10.5 cents, or 0.6%, to $17.795 an ounce.
October platinum gained $4.30, or 0.3%, to $1,335.90 an ounce, and December palladium rose 55 cents, or 0.2%, to $324.30 an ounce.
December copper added 1.8 cents, or 0.6%, to $2.856 a pound.
