English.news.cn   2010-11-09 05:11:19

CHICAGO, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday extended rally and managed to stand above psychological mark 1,400 U.S. dollars, settling at all-time high 1403.2 dollars amid bullish sentiment. Silver also gained 68.4 cents.

The most active gold contract for December delivery jumped 5.5 dollars, or 0.4 percent, to finish at a record high settlement of 1,403.2 dollars per ounce.

The hike in the gold price seems far from stop in the wake of Fed's announcement to stir the economy by a massive bond-buying program, said a gold trader.

Even the negative news that U.S. dollar strengthened 0.5 percent on Monday failed to dampened the market sentiment. Gold will continue to be bought on dips because no one believes the dollar can stage a significant rally, said a trader at Chicago.

The greenback dropped to the lowest level since December against a basket of major currencies after the Fed detailed its plans last Wednesday to buy 600 billion dollars worth of Treasuries on Thursday.

Besides, it is also possible that gold derived some support from market hearsay that China was set to buy more commodities than U.S. Treasury debt, the Chicago's trader added

The gloomy economic prospect in EU region also gave a push to gold rally. The Ireland is seeking support from the European Union this week to avoid a Greek-style bailout as investors shunned buying the country's bonds. The cost of insuring Irish debt against default ballooned Monday and the cost of insuring Portuguese debt also widened to a record.

Some analysts noted that the gold market was also possibly lifted by comments overnight from the World bank President Robert Zoellick, who suggested leading economies consider readopting a modified global gold standard to guide currency movements, although most analysts deemed it unrealistic.

For the future of gold price, a gold analyst at Chicago commented that as long as investors feel like there is no other recourse except buying precious metals, gold is going to keep going up.

December silver climbed 68.4 cents, or 2.56 percent, to 26.043 dollars. January platinum increased 2.2 dollars, or 0.12 percent, to 1,771.1 dollars per ounce.