Gold up on Fed news, inflation worries

Precious metals prices were higher Thursday after Wednesday’s announcement by the Federal Reserve that it will buy as much as $300 billion worth of Treasury notes sent the dollar sharply lower.

April gold added $69.70 to $958.80 per troy ounce in New York as investors worried that Fed actions will feed inflation and bought gold in an effort to find a safe place to put their cash.

Meanwhile, May silver added $1.59 to $13.61 per troy ounce, its biggest one-day gain since the end of 1979, while April platinum gained $79.40 to $1,122.40 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, copper added 9 cents to $1.81 per pound in New York while three-month copper gained $214 to $3,970 per tonne after going as high as $4,020 per tonne earlier in the day, its highest price in over four months..

Copper inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses were lower again on the session, dropping to 493,450 tonnes.

Even though aluminium stockpiles were higher on the day to yet another new record high, three-month contracts for the metal were up $86 to $1,465 per tonne as an analyst report said that more production cuts are needed in order to stop the string of new records in the amount of the metal in storage.

Lead, nickel, zinc and tin were all also higher on the session in London.