Gold prices rose Thursday, ending an eight-day losing streak, as Wall Street resumed its slide after a short-lived burst of optimism. Energy and agriculture futures fell.
Investors scooped up the precious metal in a flight to safety as stocks tanked across the board. Gold is often used as a safe-haven investment in times of economic uncertainty. Recently, however, prices had weakened along with stocks as investors liquidated positions in a variety of investments and moved to the sidelines.
That decline brought the price of gold down 9.5 percent since Feb. 20, when it closed above $1,000 for the first time in 11 months. Thursday's gloomy mood on Wall Street, combined with gold's depressed prices made the contract ripe for a bounce, analysts said.
''Investors judged the recent losses, worst in seven months, as perhaps overdone,'' senior analyst Jon Nadler of Kitco Bullion Dealers Montreal wrote in a research note.
Gold for April delivery rose $21.10 to settle at $927.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Other metals were mixed. May silver rose 20.5 cents to $13.12 an ounce, while May copper futures slipped 4.05 cents to $1.6535 a pound.
On Wall Street, investors sold off stocks once again as fears about the stability of large banks intensified and worries mounted about General Motors Corp. After rallying 150 points on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average slid 281 points to the 6,594 level. All the major indexes lost at least 4 percent.
Some of the steepest losses came from the troubled banking sector. Shares of ailing Citigroup Inc. sank below $1, before closing at $1.02. General Motors, meanwhile, closed below $2 as it warned of possible bankruptcy.
To put things in perspective, Nadler compared how many Citigroup shares could be bought with an ounce of gold today versus a year ago. Based on Citigroup's closing price, an investor could buy 909 Citigroup shares with an ounce of gold today. One year ago, an ounce of gold would have bought 44 Citigroup shares, Nadler noted.
Oil prices retreated after a 9 percent spike on Wednesday. Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell $1.77 to settle at $43.61 a barrel.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery fell 6.86 cents to $1.3165 a gallon, while heating oil fell 5.33 cents to $1.1612 a gallon.
Grain prices declined on the Chicago Board of Trade.
May wheat futures fell 8 cents to $5.15 a bushel, while corn for May delivery shed 5 cents to $3.5850 a bushel.
