Daily Gold Update

Source: CBS.Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold prices climbed near $427 an ounce Thursday as apparent terrorist attacks in London raised investors' interest in safety.

At last check, gold for August delivery tacked on $2.40 to $426.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded a high as $430 overnight.

"Sadly, the terrorism factor has been added to the gold equation again," said Peter Grandich, editor of The Grandich Letter.

The BBC reported that al-Qaida has taken responsibility for the blasts, which began in the morning rush hour. Officials have confirmed dozens of fatalities and hundreds of injuries.

"Gold's move higher was obviously a knee-jerk, flight to safety reaction as traders focused in on gold's 'safe-haven' value," said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com in London.

But Grandich warned that the "multiple bombings in London are likely to be played down, especially among the 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' crowd that roams Wall Street and much of the financial media."

July silver followed gold higher to trade at its highest level in a week, up 8.4 cents at $7 an ounce.

September palladium traded up $4.20 at $184.50 an ounce and July platinum traded at $865.10 an ounce, up $2.60. September copper rose 0.1 cent to $1.531 a pound, posting only a modest climb after rising almost 6 cents in the last two sessions.

Tracking inventories, copper supplies were down 43 short tons at 15,189 short tons as of late Wednesday, according to Nymex.

Silver stocks were down 1.5 million at 103.2 million troy ounces, while gold inventories stood at 5.81 million troy ounces, unchanged from the previous session.