LONDON (SHARECAST) - Gold continued to hit new peaks as investors decided a slightly weaker dollar was a good excuse to keep buying.
The December futures contractraced above $1,226 an ounce at one point before ending the session up $5.40 at $1,217.40 in New York.
It had fallen earlier in the day as an unexpected decline in the US services sector last month had traders fleeing ‘risky’ stocks for the relative safety of the dollar.
But the yellow metal ended higher for the 20th session since the start of November and avoided what would have been only its third down day in all that time.
Other metals missed the party though. Silver, platinum, palladium and copper were all lower on the day.
On the oil exchange, crude lost ground as the downbeat services sector news raised fears about the strength of economic recovery.
Crude for January delivery fell 14 cents to $76.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a day after skidding $1.77 as US crude inventories rose by 2.1m barrels in the week to 27 November.
