Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

Hong Kong— Gold futures climbed more than $6 an ounce in electronic trading Monday, sending the December contract to the highest level a front-month futures contract has seen since 1980. Analysts attributed the gains to everything from investors diversifying assets to safe-haven buying against a backdrop of tension between Turkey and Iraq. Gold for December delivery touched $760.80 at its peak in electronic trading as of 4 a.m. U.S. Eastern. That was the highest intraday price a front-month contract has seen in almost 28 years. The all-time high for a benchmark gold contract on Nymex stands at $875, set on Jan. 21, 1980. December gold was last at $759.60, up $5.80 in electronic trading.

"We are now seeing channels of buying interest," said Frederic Panizzutti, senior vice president at Swiss-based MKS, one of the world's largest precious metals traders and refiners. Fueling the rise, also, was the break of the psychological $750 level, which "paved the way for a rally toward $780 per ounce and subsequently, possibly, $800," he said. See full story.