SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : Gold prices mixed in Asian trade Monday after record closing last week.
Spot gold was seen trading at $1411.97 an ounce at 1.00 p.m Singapore time while February-delivery contract climbed as much as 0.8 percent to $1,416.70 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
However analysts said the precious yellow metal is likely to advance during the day as the dollar weakened further while the US Fed hints at buying more bonds.
Meanwhile, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings slipped to 1,298.030 tons by Dec 3 from 1,298.447 on Dec 2. The holdings hit a record at 1,320.436 tones on June 29.
Silver for immediate delivery advanced 1.3 percent to $29.80 an ounce, the highest price since March 1980. The metal has advanced 76 percent this year, outperforming gold’s 29 percent gain.
The ratio of gold to silver dropped to the lowest level since February 2007 as investors sought a protection of wealth in the metal that may also benefit from economic growth. One ounce of gold bought as little as 47.393 ounces of silver.
Palladium climbed 0.7 percent to $773.50 an ounce and platinum increased 0.4 percent to $1,733.75 an ounce.
On Friday, gold prices leapt on Friday as a November U.S. unemployment report disappointed the market. Investors sought the safety of the precious metal as the Labor Department reported that nonfarm jobs increased 39,000 while the private sector added 50,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate rose to 9.8%, the highest level since April. All the results were significantly below expectations.
Spot gold closed at $1,414.50 an ounce, while Comex February gold was $16.90, or 1.2%, higher at $1,406.20 an ounce. Silver tracked gold higher, trading up 2.7 per cent at $29.29 an ounce.
