Gold futures finished higher as technical momentum continued Monday, with the most-active December contract hitting its strongest level in nearly 17 months and the nearby October contract reaching a 27-year high, analysts and traders said.
Speculative buying occurred, as was the case with gains in the platinum group metals, which shook off bearish news from Mazda Motor Corp. Platinum hit contract and record highs, while palladium hit its strongest level in 1 1/2 months. The laggard was silver due to profit-taking. December gold rose $4.10 to settle at $754.10 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. December gold hit a peak of $755.70 an ounce electronically, its highest level since May 2006. October gold peaked at $747.40 an ounce, which was the strongest level for a nearby Comex futures contract since January 1980. While gold eased early in the session on what traders attributed to profit-taking, it later turned higher even though the dollar bounced from its early lows and crude oil slipped. "There's a little follow-through on the charts," said Scott Meyers, senior trading analyst with Pioneer Futures. "You had a real solid day on Friday. And today, you've got more rally power. "The charts look great. The fundamentals are there. The whole package looks great for this market right now," he added. | |
| Platinum, Palladium Prices Rose But Silver Fell | |
In other metals trading, January platinum rose $3 to $1,401.20 an ounce in volatile trading. The January futures hit a contract high of $1,403.90 an ounce, while October platinum hit a high of $1,407.50 an ounce that is a record for a Nymex nearby contract in the metal. From those highs, however, January platinum fell nearly $30 to a low for the day of $1,375 an ounce. A trader blamed the pullback on overnight news that Mazda has developed a catalyst for vehicles that requires significantly less platinum or palladium than current catalysts. This follows a similar announcement from Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY) in mid-summer. Platinum rallied again into the close Monday, however. Meanwhile, December palladium rose $10.55 to $362.50 an ounce, December copper rose 5.15 cents to $3.6915 per a pound, but December silver fell 6.5 cents to $13.855 an ounce. On the Chicago Board of Trade, wheat futures soared amid forecasts for continued dryness in Australia, soybean futures finished modestly higher after following wheat up, but corn futures slipped on light speculative sales. CBOT December wheat climbed 13 1/2 cents to $9.52 1/2 per bushel. The contract rose as high as $9.58 1/2 during the day session. Kansas City Board of Trade December wheat ended 20 cents stronger at $9.49 1/4 a bushel after setting a new all-time high of $9.50 1/2, which topped the previous record of $9.49 1/2. Minneapolis Grain Exchange December wheat hit a fresh high of $9.31, exceeding the previous record of $9.27 3/4, before finishing 20 3/4 cents higher at $9.26 1/2. Meanwhile, November soybeans settled 1/4 cent higher at $9.91 1/2 a bushel, and January soybeans ended 1 cent higher at $10.09 1/2. October soymeal settled $2.50 higher at $278.80 per short ton, and December soymeal closed $2.80 stronger at $284.80. October soyoil ended 0.44 cent lower at 39.05 cents a pound, and December soyoil finished 0.37 cent weaker at 39.63. December corn settled 4 1/4 cents lower at $3.68 3/4 per bushel, and March corn fell 3 3/4 cents to $3.85 1/2. At ICE Futures US, December arabic coffee futures closed 6.2 cents higher at $1.3485 a pound, after surging to eight-month highs as funds and speculators bought following unexpectedly light weekend rainfall in Brazil. December cotton rose 0.11 cent to settle at 65.11 cents a pound, boosted by late trade buying. However, world raw sugar futures slide on fund sales. Their fall was curbed by trade-house buying, and March sugar finished 0.22 cent lower at 9.93 cents a pound. In cocoa futures trading, prices fell slightly due to a firmer dollar against the British pound. December cocoa fell $6 to settle at $2,030 a metric ton. In Nymex energy trading, front-month November light, sweet crude settled $1.42 lower at $80.24 a barrel. November gasoline fell 5.98 cents to $1.9813 a gallon, November heating oil declined 4.49 cents to $2.1807 a gallon, but November natural gas futures settled 18 cents higher at $7.05 a million British thermal units. | |
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