Capital Gold Group Report: Platinum's Record Run Resumes; Gold up Nearly 3%

Gold for April delivery rose $24.90 to stand at $931 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Other metals prices also made big gains.

"Gold is seeing a surge of interest as key technical and fundamental levels have been breached and a new wave of buying interest is pouring in," said Kevin Kerr, president of Kerrtrade.com and editor of Dow Jones MarketWatch's Global Resources Trader.

"This [is] after all the bearish talk of IMF liquidating gold holdings failed to push the metals significantly lower," Kerr said. Reports that the Group of Seven industrial nations approved the sale of gold by the International Monetary Fund put some pressure on prices last week.

"A weaker dollar and fear of more interest-rate cuts yet to come are also boosting gold's allure," Kerr said.

The dollar began the holiday-shortened U.S. trading week under pressure. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, dropped 0.4% to 75.945.

Gold "was assisted by news of fresh write-downs at Swiss bank Credit Suisse, and by a surge in crude oil," said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers, in a research note.

Crude-oil and other energy futures soared Tuesday, boosted by concerns that the OPEC cartel may cut production andby the shutdown of a Texas refinery following an explosion Monday. Crude for March delivery rose $2.75 to $98.25 a barrel. 

April platinum rallied $88.10, up more than 4%, to $2,151.80 an ounce, not far from the $2,174-an-ounce record established earlier.

Platinum prices have broken record after record in recent days, propelled by concerns about declining output from South Africa.

The world's biggest platinum producer, South Africa has been gripped by severe power shortages since mid-January, forcing many major mining companies to operate below capacity and revise their production forecasts accordingly.

"Again, the recent surges have pushed the metal deeper into overbought territory," said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com, in a note.

However, he conceded that "with no end in sight to the supply woes it seems the only way is up, with any dips being viewed as buying opportunities."

Also on Nymex, March palladium rallied $38.30, or 9%, to $490 an ounce.

"The metal has risen on both investment and technical buying, and could look to challenge $500," Moore said.

March copper soared 19.95 cents, or 6%, to $3.7225 a pound, while March silver rose 45.2 cents to $17.57 an ounce, an advance of more than 2%.

Gold warehouse inventories declined by 32,603 troy ounces to 7.6 million troy ounces as of late Friday, according to Nymex data. Silver stockpiles were unchanged at 133.9 million troy ounces, while copper supplies were unchanged at 13,978 short tons.


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