LONDON (SHARECAST) - Investors splashed out on gold Thursday, pushing the yellow metal to a new seven-week high, although its lead narrowed when the dollar strengthened.
Gold for December delivery rose $4 to $1,235.40 an ounce in New York, but had been up as high as $1,239.50 before the US currency advanced.
Some analysts believe the precious metal will set a new record above $1,258.30 within the next few weeks as traders return from their summer breaks.
Elsewhere, silver fell on a firmer dollar, while concerns about the global economyhad copper in the red.
Oil struggled, tumbling to its lowest in six weeks on demand fears. US first-time jobless claims at a nine-month high didn’t help, nor did a weak Philadelphia Fed manufacturing report.
The September contract dropped 99 cents to $74.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its worst finish since July 7.
Initial jobless claims rose by 12,000 to 500,000 in the week to August 14, a rise that topped all but the most pessimistic of forecasts by economists.
This was followed by the Philadelphia Fed’s general economic index down at its lowest level since July 2009. It fell from plus 5.1 last month to minus 7.7 this time. The slide caught out the market as the consensus forecast had been for a positive reading of 7 for August.
On the basis of this data, economic growth is likely to slow in the second half of 2010, say analysts.
