Gold futures finished higher as technical momentum continued Monday, with the most-active contract hitting its most muscular level in nearly 17 months and the nearby futures hitting a 27-year high, analysts and traders reported.
Speculative buying occurred, as was the case with gains in the platinum group metals, which shook off bearish news from Mazda. Platinum hit contract and record highs and palladium hit its strongest level in 1 1/2 months.
The laggard was silver due to profit-taking.
December gold rose $4.10 to $754.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. As pit trade was closing, the December contract at the Chicago Board of Trade was up $4.20 to $754.
December gold hit a peak of $755.70 electronically, its most muscular level since May 2006. October peaked at $747.40, the most muscular level for a nearby Comex futures contract since January 1980.
Gold eased early in the day, which traders at the time blamed on profit-taking. But it later turned higher again, even though the dollar bounced from its early lows and crude oil was down more than $1.50 as barrel at the final bell for gold.
"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 cited "solid" all-around buying that includes funds and locals, and a floor contact also cited some trade buying.
One trader commented that the threat of a strike in Peru also was supportive. The country's National Federation of Mining, Metallurgy and Steel Workers plans to hold a nationwide mining strike in November in an effort to force the government into improving conditions for miners.
During the course of the day, several observers suggested there is potential for a correction lower in gold, since the December futures have gained more than $100 an ounce from their mid-August low and the large non-commercials - better known as the funds - held a record net long position of 189,498 lots for futures and options combined as of last Tuesday, according to late-Friday data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment