Gold hits fresh 28-year high

Gold prices hit a near 28-year high on Monday, just shy of $750 an ounce amid renewed US dollar weakness.

Spot gold in London rose to $747.65 an ounce – its highest sincethe record $850 an ounce in January 1980 – after the dollar fell to an all-time low of $1.4281 against the euro.

Spot gold in London later traded at $746.90 an ounce, up $2.90 on the day.

A gold price surge of almost $75 an ounce in September has triggered a new wave of investment in exchange-traded funds, such as Street Tracks Gold Shares.

The fund’s bullion investment has soared 24 per cent this quarter to a record of 578.03 tonnes.

Spot silver in London moved in parallel to gold and rose to $13.78 an ounce, its highest level in sixth months.

Platinum prices fell slightly after Mazda, the car company, announced a process to cut precious metal consumption in autocatalysts. The global automotive sector absorbs about 54 per cent of platinum demand.

John Reade, head of metals strategy at UBS in London, said the announcement was part of a long-term trend.

“This sort of technological advance has been made repeatedly over the past 25 years and will serve to prevent demand for platinum and palladium in autocatalysts from overwhelming the market,” he said.

In London, spot platinum dropped about 0.5 per cent to $1,377 an ounce.

Platinum reached a 10-month high of $1,391 an ounce earlier in the day and still trades within striking distance of its all-time high of $1,395 an ounce reached last November.

Crude oil prices consolidated above $80 a barrel with profit-taking eroding some of the recent gains.

Nymex November West Texas Intermediate moved $1.42 lower to settle at $80.24 a barrel. ICE November Brent lost $1.53 to close at $77.64 a barrel.

Base metals prices rose with the exception of nickel.

In late afternoon on the London Metal Exchange, aluminium rose 0.2 per cent to $2,519 a tonne while copper rose 1 per cent to $8,109 a tonne.

Zinc rose 1.6 per cent to $3,095 a tonne and tin moved 0.7 per cent higher to $15,500 a tonne.