Gold again reaches record territory

Gold hit a new all-time high price in New York at $1,202.70 per troy ounce for December contracts before falling back to end $18 higher at $1,119.10 per troy ounce for December contracts, while February contracts jumped $17.90 to $1,200.20 per troy ounce.

The gains came on a weaker US dollar as fading fears about Dubai’s debt sent investors looking for risker currency deals.

Gains in global equities markets also helped push gold prices up on the session.

Other precious metals saw price gains as March silver added 69 cents to $19.21 per troy ounce and January platinum was $26.40 higher to $1,486.60 per troy ounce, while in earlier trade in New York, March palladium had gained $17.20 to $383.40 per troy ounce by mid-morning.

At midday on the London Metal Exchange, lead was at $2,381 per tonne as inventories of the metal used in the manufacture of batteries added 0.4 percent to 138,450 tonnes, well above the 45,150 tonnes in storage as the year began.

The gains in prices for lead, which have doubled this year despite a tripling of inventories, have been put to interest from investors.

Meanwhile, March copper added 5 cents to $3.23 per pound in New York.