By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures climbed to never-before-seen levels, rising above the $1,210-an-ounce level in electronic trading on Globex by Wednesday afternoon in Asia, as mixed moves for the U.S. dollar failed to allay concerns of weakness in the greenback. The front-month December futures contract has posted gains in all but two trading sessions since the beginning of last month. The contract climbed as high as $1,210.50 an ounce on Globex in Tokyo's afternoon trade. It later eased slightly but was still up $10.10, or 0.8%, at $1,209.20. "The continued weakness in the (U.S. dollar) as well as falling U.S. real interest rates have spurred strong investment interest for precious metals over the last few months," analysts at Credit Suisse said in a note to clients Wednesday, adding that "speculative positioning shows a sharply rising net-long position in gold and silver." Gold saw gains despite a slight uptick in the dollar against some of its foreign rivals. One U.S. dollar bought 87.03 Japanese yen, up from 86.64 late Tuesday in North American trading, and one euro eased to $1.5091, versus $1.5107 Tuesday. But the Australian dollar rose to 92.70 U.S. cents, up from 92.65 U.S. cents. In Asia Wednesday, investors bet on upbeat prospects for gold miners, fueling a sizable rally among related shares in Australia and China. See Asia Markets column on prospects for region's gold-miner stocks.

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