By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures climbed Monday to top $1,780 an ounce as ongoing concerns over the euro-zone debt crisis and news that Italy’s prime minister was under pressure to resign kept traders on edge, boosting the metal’s safe-haven appeal.
“Faced with clear signs the economic system is in a state of grave concern ... [gold] has rallied accordingly,” said Ross Norman, chief executive at London-based bullion broker Sharps Pixley, in emailed comments.
Gold for December delivery GC1Z +1.36% rose $27.30, or 1.5%, to $1,783.40 an ounce. Prices finished last week with a 0.5% gain after ending Friday with a $9 loss. If they close around their current trading levels, they’ll log their highest close since Sept. 21.
“Tragically, the European crisis is soluble mathematically and can be resolved financially,” said Norman. “The problem is that it remains bankrupt in the political will and decision-making department.”
Overall, there remains a sense that the policy-makers in Europe are constantly ‘behind the curve’ in terms of decision-making and this is having a deeply corrosive effect on confidence in the markets,” he added.
On Monday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was under pressure to resign as government borrowing costs spiked to the highest level since the launch of the euro and underlined fears the euro zone’s No. 3 economy could soon be engulfed by the long-running debt crisis. Read more about Berlusconi.
In U.S. economic news, a gauge of employment trends slightly gained in October, following upward revisions to results for prior months, pointing to a “slightly more optimistic outlook,” according to a Monday report from the Conference Board. Read more about the employment-trends gauge.
On Friday, a much-awaited jobs report in the U.S. was mixed. The Labor Department reporting that the U.S. economy gained 80,000 in October. But that was a number still showing a job market far from recovered and one that fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Other metals traded mostly higher, with copper the exception.
December copper HG1Z -0.56% was off less than 1 cent, or 0.2%, to $3.56 a pound after a 4% decline last week.
Silver for December delivery SI1Z +1.49% tacked on 66 cents, or 1.9%, to trade at $34.73 an ounce. Last week, silver declined 3.4%.
Platinum and palladium also climbed, with January platinum PL2F +1.37% up $26.50, or 1.6%, to $1,655.60 an ounce. December palladium PA1Z +0.72% added $9.50, or 1.5%, to $664.80 an ounce.
