Gold's surge continues as dollar falls

TOKYO: Gold prices continued to gain on oil’s surge along with a weak US dollar as banks; investors and speculators began to purchase the yellow metal heavily.

Gold futures for June delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added $4.9 an ounce to $918.1 an ounce.

Silver tracked gold, while platinum extended gains on persistent worries about output in main producer South Africa, which accounts for 80 percent of the world's supply.

Gold jumped to $915.25/916.25 an ounce from $908.40/909.20 an ounce on Friday but was still 11 percent below a record of $1,030.80 ounce hit on March 17.

In addition to speculators, jewelers have been buying gold at the lows, helping the metal rebound from a two-month low of $872.90 an ounce last week.

However, the dollar rallied against the yen on Monday, hitting a high of 102.68 yen on electronic trading platform EBS, due to buying from Japanese investors at the start of the new business year. The euro dipped to $1.5670.

The U.S. Labor Department on Friday said non-farm employment fell by 80,000 jobs in March, the biggest drop in five years, while the jobless rate jumped to a 2-½ year high of 5.1 percent, raising expectations of more rate cuts in April.

Spot platinum rose to $2,012/2,022 an ounce from $2,005/2,015 late in New York on Friday on supply problems in South Africa, where a power shortage had disrupted mining and sent prices to a record high at $2,290 on March 4.

Implats, the world's second-biggest platinum producer, said South Africa did not boost its power allotment to 95 percent from 90 percent.The most active Tokyo platinum futures rose 131 yen per gram or 2 percent to 6,546 yen, reflecting a firm cash market.

Silver edged up to $17.86/17.91 an ounce from $17.77/17.82 an ounce. Spot palladium rose to $443/448 an ounce from $436/440 an ounce.