LONDON: Gold hit a one-month high on Monday as the dollar came under pressure from easing fears over potential US rate hikes, and as talk of a bailout for debt-ridden Greece underpinned the euro.
Spot gold hit an intraday high of $1,130.65 an ounce and was quoted at $1,123.65 by 1214 GMT, up from $1,117.50 at New York’s notional close on Friday. US gold futures also struck a 1-month high, silver gained more than 1 percent, while platinum and palladium tracked bullion higher.
US gold futures for April delivery rose $1.9 an ounce to $1,124.00 an ounce. They had hit an intraday high of $1,131.50 on Monday, its strongest in a month. Gold priced in euros held near last week’s record around 830 euros. In other precious metals, silver was at $16.43 an ounce versus $16.27, platinum was at $1,533.00 versus $1,530 and palladium was at $442 versus $437.
Copper falls: Copper fell more than one percent on Monday. Benchmark copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange traded at $7,335 a tonne at 1455 GMT from $7,435 at Friday’s close and versus a session low of $7,315. LME copper stocks rose 250 tonnes to 555,025 tonnes, near levels last seen in October 2003.
Aluminium traded at $2,158 a tonne versus $2,139. LME stocks for the metal used in transport and packaging, fell 7,275 tonnes to remain near record levels at 4.59 million tonnes.
In other base metals, steel making ingredient nickel was at $20,448 a tonne from $20,725 while battery material lead was at $2,320 from $2,359. Zinc was at $2,298.25 a tonne from $2,360 and tin was at $17,000 from Friday’s last bid at $16,995. reuters
