LONDON—The spot price of gold crept higher, supported by a weak dollar and persistent concerns over economic growth.
Ahead of the New York day, spot gold was up $1.40, or 0.1%, at $1,543.80 a troy ounce, just over $30 short of May 2's intraday record of $1,576.52 an ounce.
"It looks like gold wants to make new highs" in the wake of Friday's poor U.S. jobs figures, a trader said. "It might not be today, but it will probably be in the next few weeks. Gold longs are looking happy."
Spot silver also traded higher Monday, adding 46 cents, or 1.3%, to $36.75 an ounce. However, market players were a little more dubious of the gray metal's short-term prospects.
Silver's volatility "can prove discouraging" and a rising ratio between the price of gold and silver "suggests that silver is losing some of its sparkle and that investors have started to shift their preference back to gold," said UBS analyst Edel Tully in a note.
Since rallying to almost $50 an ounce in late April, silver has lost over a quarter of its value, after failing to significantly bounce back from a commodity-wide slump in early May. Unlike gold, the silver market is relatively illiquid, and high levels of speculative market activity have left the metal vulnerable to exaggerated price moves in recent months.
Furthermore, silver exchange-traded funds saw record outflows in May, noted analysts, losing 1,412 tons, or 7.8%, compared with gold's more modest loss of 0.9%, or 20 tons.
Among other metals, spot platinum was off $1, or 0.1%, at $1,814 an ounce, while spot palladium rose $3, or 0.4%, to $786 an ounce.
Trading across the precious metal complex was relatively quiet, with China and parts of Asia on holiday.
Write to Francesca Freeman at francesca.freeman@dowjones.com
