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Gold hits six month high at 454d ounce sept 05 Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B6CD23F0C-6E2C-4728-921D-B16E0BDEED46%7D&siteid=googlehttp://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B6CD23F0C-6E2C-4728-921D-B16E0BDEED46%7D&siteid=google
Gold prices top $454, six-month high
By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:04 AM ET Sept. 14, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures climbed above $454 an ounce Wednesday to mark their highest level since mid-March with some weakness in the U.S. dollar sparking fresh investor interest in the precious metal.
Gold for December delivery climbed to a high of $454.40 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a level not seen since March 16. It was last at $453.40, up $3.40, or 0.8%.
Prices managed to hold at the $450 level Tuesday, even after news that the nation's trade deficit narrowed lifted the dollar. "We think the ability to hold together is the result of a more diversified bull position in gold and the fact that inflation remains a threat," said Nell Sloane, an analyst at NSFutures.com in daily commentary.
From here, "physical buying will continue to play an important role in the coming weeks as festival buying in India and the middle-east, and pre-Christmas retail purchases in the U.S. and Europe bolster demand, with any dips lower likely to be quickly bought," James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com said in a note to clients.
Gold tends to trade inversely with the greenback and on Wednesday, the dollar lost ground against the euro and yen. See Currencies.
Other metals futures traded mainly higher Wednesday, with the exception of copper, which extended its losses from the previous session.
The December copper contract fell 1.85 cents, or 1.1%, to finish at $1.607 a pound.
December silver traded up 4.5 cents at $7.05 an ounce, while December palladium tacked on 80 cents to stand at $184.80 an ounce and October platinum climbed by $3 to $916.50 an ounce.
Tracking inventories, copper supplies were down 90 short tons at 9,632 as of late Tuesday, according to Nymex. Silver stocks were up 34,120 troy ounces at 116.8 million troy ounces, while gold inventories stood at 6.00 million troy ounces, down 5,562 troy ounces from the previous session.
As for mining stocks, indexes tracking the sector headed higher following declines of around 2% on Tuesday.
The CBOE Gold Index (GOX: news, chart, profile) climbed 1.6% at 92.37, with shares of Anglogold Ashanti (AU: news, chart, profile) up 2.2%.
The Philadelphia Gold/Silver Index (XAU: news, chart, profile) added 1.6% to stand at 102.33 and the Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI: news, chart, profile) rose 1.7% to trade at 218.65.
Among other individual issues, Barrick Gold (ABX: news, chart, profile) closed down 2.6% at $26.79. Credit Suisse First Boston lowered its investment rating on the stock to neutral from outperform.
At the same time, CSFB upgraded its rating on Newmont Mining (NEM: news, chart, profile) to outperform from neutral and raised its 12-month price target to $50 from $42. The stock followed its peers lower Tuesday, to close down 1.4% at $41.47.
Myra P. Saefong is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
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