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Gold Surging!
Gold advanced as investors bought the precious metal on expectations price gains will extend into this year and on demand from Asian jewelers.
The precious metal last year had its fifth annual increase in 2005 after reaching a 24-year high of $541 an ounce on Dec. 12 as investors diversified from stocks, bonds and currencies amid concern inflation may rise crimp returns. Jewelry demand is ``at its highest ever,'' the World Gold Council said Dec. 8.
``The overall trend continues to remain bullish. A few people seem to have gone long on gold and pushed prices up,'' Si Kannan, an analyst at Sharekhan Commodities Pvt., said by phone from Mumbai today.
Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as $8.60, or 1.7 percent, to $520.60 an ounce. That's the biggest intraday percentage gain since Dec. 28. It traded at $520.26 at 2:44 p.m. Singapore time.
The bullion may rise to $600 an ounce by mid-year, when Indian farmers cash in their crops and buy gold, Gavin Wendt, a resources analyst at Fat Prophets Fund Management in Sydney, said by phone today.
Commodity prices, led by energy and metals, reached a 25- year high in early September as pension funds, hedge funds and investors poured more money into raw materials. The Reuters- Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities gained 17 percent in 2005, and the energy-weighted Goldman Sachs Commodity Index gained 39 percent.
Gold for delivery in February rose as much as $3.30, or 0.6 percent, to $522.20 an ounce in after-hours trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded at $522 at 2:44 p.m. Singapore time.
This morning Gold is surging and rose to its highest in three weeks on Tuesday, the first trading day of 2006 in the key bullion trading cities of Singapore and Hong Kong, extending year-end gains as investors poured money into precious metals.
Spot gold rose to $519.40, its highest since December 13, on fund buying. It later eased to $519.00/519.75 in afternoon trade, but was still higher than $517.20/518.00 late in New York on Friday when the metal rose around $1.5 an ounce.
