Gold, platinum touch new record highs

Prices for precious metals were higher Monday, with gold and platinum hitting record highs in New York, as crude oil prices neared $104 per barrel and the US dollar hit yet another new record low in relation to the euro.

April gold touched a record $992 per troy ounce before trading $8.20 higher than Friday’s close to $983.20 per troy ounce near the close of floor trade in New York, while April platinum jumped $60.90 to a new record high of $2,241.60 per troy ounce.

Silver was also higher, going up to $20.74 per troy ounce before settling back to $20.18 per troy ounce, still a gain of 26 cents.

Meanwhile among base metals, May copper gained 7 cents to $3.93 per pound in New York and three-month copper in London was up $170 to $8,600 per tonne after London Metal Exchange stockpiles fell 1.6 percent to 141,375 tonnes.

LME copper inventories are now down 28 percent so far this year.