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Gold trades above USD1,600 an ounce, silver tops USD40

Published 07/18/2011, 10:10 AM
Updated 07/18/2011, 10:10 AM

Investing.com – Gold futures climbed above the psychologically important USD1,600-an-ounce level for the first time on Monday, while silver prices advanced to a ten-week high as mounting fears over the debt crisis in the U.S. and the euro zone boosted the safe haven appeal of the precious metals.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery traded at USD1,600.35 a troy ounce during U.S. morning trade, edging 0.4% higher.                 

It earlier rose as much as 0.6% to trade at a fresh record high USD1,603.65 a troy ounce.

Gold prices advanced for the 11th consecutive day, its longest stretch of gains since August 1970. Euro-denominated gold prices extended gains to hit a fresh record high of EUR1,141.40 a troy ounce.

Gold prices also hit record highs in sterling, South African rand and Canadian dollar terms.

Global financial service provider Barclays said in a report earlier, “Gold prices have hit fresh highs across several currencies on macro unease, the dollar weakening and the escalation of European sovereign debt uncertainty creating a favorable backdrop."

U.S. President Barack Obama said over the weekend that the U.S. government was “running out of time” in regards to negotiations over lifting the country’s USD14.3 trillion debt ceiling before an August 2 deadline.

Ratings agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s both warned last week that a failure to raise the debt limit in time would result in a downgrade in the credit rating of the world’s largest economy.

Meanwhile, Italian and Spanish government bond yields came under pressure on Monday, with Italian bonds climbing to 5.85%, while Spanish yields rose to a euro-lifetime high of 6.31%, approaching the 7% mark that prompted peripheral euro zone nations, Greece, Portugal and Ireland to seek bailouts.

Euro zone finance ministers were to meet Thursday to focus on “the financial stability of the euro area as a whole and the future financing of the Greek program,” according to the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy.

Gold is often considered a safe haven in times of economic uncertainty.

Elsewhere, silver for September delivery soared 2.7% to trade at USD40.38 a troy ounce, after rising earlier to a ten-week high of USD40.47.

Silver prices have rallied nearly 14% in July as investors sought a cheaper alternative to gold.

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