Capital Gold Group Report: Gold Tops $1,000 An Ounce, Closes At Another Record High
Thursday March 13, 2008 14:43:00 EDT
(RTTNews) - Gold topped $1,000 an ounce for the first time on Thursday in U.S. trading and closed at another record high. April gold finished the session at $993.80, up $13.30 on the session. The precious metal first hit the key $1,000 mark at around 8:25 a.m. ET and later reached as high as $1,001.50.
The precious metal's hedge appeal was boosted as the dollar continued to drop against other major currencies. The greenback added to its record lows versus the euro and hit a 12-year low against the yen. Gold usually moves in the opposite direction as the dollar because of the precious metal's hedge value. Crude oil prices, which moved past $111 for the first time, also boosted gold's value.
The price of gold was up $4.50 on Wednesday. The metal had dipped as low as $969.50 in electronic movement, but bounced back before the open. The precious metal pared most of its gains on Tuesday after the Fed pumped $200 billion into financial markets in an effort to ease Wall Street.
Stochastics and the RSI continued to show over-bought levels for April gold. The $1,000 mark could provide psychological resistance for the metal. Should prices turn lower, support could be found at Wednesday's low crossing of $980.50.
On the economic front, data released by the Department of Commerce on Thursday revealed that retail sales unexpectedly fell in the month of February, with decreases in auto and gasoline sales contributing to the drop in overall sales. The report showed that retail sales fell 0.6 percent in February following a revised 0.4 percent increase in January. The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected sales to increase by about 0.2 percent.
Also Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended March 8th, showing that jobless claims unexpectedly came in unchanged compared to a revised reading for the previous week. The report showed that jobless claims came in at 353,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised figure of 353,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to edge up to 355,000 from the 351,000 originally reported for the previous week.
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