By: Tom Jennemann New York 04/10/2012 - Comex gold achieved a new 2012 high Thursday after US unemployment claims for last week edged higher. Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was last up $9.70 at $1,789.50 an ounce. Earlier, trade peaked at $1,797.20, the highest level since November 2011. The move up came after the US Labor Department reported that initial claims for unemployment benefits rose 4,000 to 367,000 last week; however, the reading was still slightly below the forecast for 371,000. “These jobless claims aren't heading in the right direction. People saw the figures this morning and decided to add gold before September's unemployment report is released tomorrow,� a US-based gold trader said. Last month, the US Federal Reserve announced it would make open-ended purchases of $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities (QE3) each month until there is sustained improvement in the labour market. Thus, every negative jobs report extends the market's expectation for how long this latest round of easing will last. Stimulus from the US central bank is viewed as unequivocally supportive of gold because extra liquidity tends to debase the dollar and create future inflationary risks. “There is continuing support from ETF investors, who in a climate of global monetary expansion are turning to gold as a store of value and alternative currency,� Commerzbank AG said in a note. “The volume held by gold ETFs tracked by Bloomberg rose four tons yesterday to a record 2,554 tons. This means an influx of 164 tons since the end of July,� Commerzbank added. Elsewhere, markets still expect that Spain will ask for a bailout from the ECB but the big question is timing, Dennis Gartman, editor of the Gartman Letter, said. “[Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy] has had no choice but to try to put a formidable façade up before his own constituents and to try to appear able to tell the Germans and the others of the Troika that Spain can stand upon its own, but it cannot,� Gartman said. Also in Europe, the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low, as expected. ECB President Mario Draghi will hold a press conference today, where he could give more details on future bond buying programmes. In the wider-markets, the euro was about two-thirds of a cent stronger at 1.2995 against the dollar, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 were both near unchanged. US equity market opened modestly higher. As for the more industrial commodities, light sweet crude (WTI) oil futures for November delivery recouped some of yesterday's sizeable losses to last trade up 87 cents at $89.01 per barrel for the session. The most-actively traded Comex copper contract was at $3.80 per pound, up 1.6 cents. Comex silver for December delivery were up 4.5 cents at $34.735 an ounce. Trade has ranged from $34.655 to $35.170. “Like gold, silver is probably garnering some lift off favourable currency market action but the main driving force for the bull camp early today might be expectations of easing action from either the Bank of England or ECB,� the CME Group said in a market commentary. “However, the most the metals markets might expect to see from the central bank meetings today, is easing dialogue and not aggressive action,� it added. Platinum futures for January delivery on the Nymex were up $13.00 at $1,707.10 an ounce. Trade has ranged from $1,688.20 to $1,708.80. “Platinum is above $1,700 again as the strike action at [South African] mines still shrouds supply in uncertainty. The platinum/gold spread is now at -87. The spread has moved from -200 when strike action started in August to less than -100. At the same time, the platinum price has moved from $1,400 to the current $1,700,� Standard Bank said in a note. “The platinum/gold spread implies that the strike could account for around a $100 rise in the platinum price, while the other $200 price rise is due to other factors, such as additional monetary stimulus, that also push the gold price higher,� it added.

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