Gold continues rise in light trading

Gold continues rise on light holiday trading as other metals climb in its wake

The Associated Press, On Wednesday December 29, 2010, 4:50 pm EST

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gold prices continued their surge Wednesday amid light holiday trading, as investors seemed convinced that precious metals will make a good hedge against inflation during 2011.

Gold for February delivery rose $7.90 to settle at $1,413.4560 an ounce. Silver continued its long-standing pattern of following in gold's wake, with contracts for March delivery rising 38.1 cents to $30.704 an ounce.

A sagging dollar and concerns about global inflation seem to be propping gold above its year-end high of $1,400 an ounce, said Edward Meir, senior commodities analyst at MF Global in New York.

"I think the dollar is pretty weak today, and that's giving it a bit of a lift," Meir said. But he cautioned not to read too much into Wednesday's numbers because trading has been light as many investors are off for the holidays.
Industrial metals continued their upward climb for the week, except for copper which fell slightly.
January palladium gained $6.20 to settle at $793.40 an ounce and December platinum gained $2.50 to close at $1,754.20 an ounce.
Copper for March delivery fell 16.5 cents to settle at $4.3115 a pound.
Energy prices fell while the East Coast continued to dig itself out of Monday's blizzard and a cold snap swept across other parts of the country.
Heating oil, natural gas and other energy commodities usually get more expensive as the weather chills. But analysts said most traders already have locked in their energy contracts for the year, and those still buying are looking ahead to 2011.
With the U.S. sitting on higher than average heating oil and natural gas supplies, temperatures would need to drop much lower for a longer period to raise prices, analyst Tom Kloza with Oil Price Information Service said.
Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 37 cents to settle at $91.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading in January contracts, heating oil fell 0.28 cents to settle at $2.5215 a gallon, gasoline fell 1.52 cents to $2.3904 a gallon. Natural gas for February delivery fell 0.10 cents to $4.287 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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