Gold, copper up on higher oil prices

Most metals prices were higher Friday and gold hit its highest level in at least a month as investors looked for safe places to put their money to protect it from inflation after crude oil prices rose as high as $142.99 per barrel in New York during the session, a new record and the US dollar weakened again versus the euro.

August gold was up $15.80 to $930.90 per troy ounce just before the close of floor trade in New York, while September silver added 49 cents to $17.71 per troy ounce.

Bucking the trend was October platinum, which was down $7.40 to $2,062,40 per troy ounce at last report.

Among base metals, copper was also higher as the weakening dollar and record oil prices led traders to expect demand for the metal by investors to increase even as supplies grew tighter as London Metal Exchange stockpiles dropped by almost 1 percent during the week to 122,900 tonnes and inventories monitored in Shanghai were down 3 percent during the week to 32,401 tonnes.

September copper was up 5 cents to $3.88 per pound in New York.