By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Gold extended its gains during Asian trading hours Wednesday, while copper rallied amid hopes for a deal to save Greece from a messy sovereign default.
Benchmark April gold futures GC2J +0.09% added $2.40 an ounce, or 0.1%, to trade at $1,751.2, up from its Tuesday settlement of $1,748.40 an ounce on the Comex division of New York Mercantile Exchange.
The move added to a 1.4% surge Tuesday on news Greece was close to a deal on austerity measures that would allow it to receive its next tranche of international aid. See report on Tuesday’s gold action.
The March silver contract SI2H -0.10% tracked gold’s gains to rise 0.2% to $34.25 an ounce, compared to Tuesday settlement at $34.19.
Copper climbed higher after making a modest 0.3% rise on Tuesday to reverse from recent losses.
On Wednesday, March copper futures HG2H +1.15% were up 1.2% to $3.92 a pound, improving from $3.88 a pound in the New York settlement.
Michael Kitchen is Asia editor for MarketWatch and is based in Los Angeles.
