METALS STOCKS
Gold spikes to 9-month high
Gold and silver shares follow momentum
By Lisa Sanders, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:11 PM ET May 18, 2001
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Gold futures prices leaped more than 5 percent to a nine-month high Friday as speculation about inflation and the possible end to central bank sales of the precious metal pushed it past a key technical level and sparked an afternoon rush among traders.
June gold futures rose by $13.80 to settle at $287.80 an ounce on the Commodities Exchange division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The high of the day was $288.50. The close is the highest since July of last year.
Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Alaron.com, said the rally involves more than just technical trading.
"There's a perception that the overseas central bank selling of gold is coming to an end and a perception that lending activities against gold has been overdone," Flynn said. "And there's also the perception that inflation may be coming back."
In the equities markets, the CBOE Gold Index (GOX: news, msgs, alerts) rose almost 9 percent and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index (XAU: news, msgs, alerts) gained more than 5 percent. Individual issues such as Placer Dome (PDG: news, msgs, alerts) and Newmont Mining (NEM: news, msgs, alerts) were among the top gainers.
Other metals movers
July silver rose 8.2 cents to settle at $4.577 an ounce.
On the supply end, Comex gold inventories were down 4,983 ounces at 832,027 ounces compared to the previous session, and silver stocks were up 150,628 to 95,932,703 ounces.
July platinum added $1.80 to settle at $617 an ounce, while June palladium settled up $2 to $654 an ounce.
Copper for July delivery added 0.19 cent to settle at 78.75 an ounce. As of Friday, London Metals Exchange warehouse stocks fell 700 tons to 435,200 tons. Late Thursday, Comex stocks were up 1,011 short tons to 134,928 tons. July aluminum added 2.05 cent to settle at 72.95.
The CRB/Bridge Index, a broad-based measure of commodity futures markets, closed at 218.48, up 1.1 percent.
Lisa Sanders is a Dallas-based reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com.
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Copyright 2001 CBS MarketWatch.com, Inc.
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