Gold rises as dollar turns lower


LONDON - Gold rose nearly 1 per cent in Europe on Wednesday, recovering from the three-week lows it hit in the previous session, as the U.S. dollar weakened against the euro on concern selling of the single currency had been overdone.

Spot gold was bid at $1,139.60 (U.S.) an ounce at 1018 GMT, against $1,129.30 late on Tuesday. The metal hit a low of $1,125.15 an ounce late in that session as the dollar firmed.

But Standard Bank analyst Walter de Wet said gold will likely struggle to return to the record highs of $1,226.10 an ounce it hit last week before the end of the year.

"We will see more upside in gold, but we don't think we will see it in the next few weeks," he said.

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Among other precious metals.

Silver was bid at $17.77 an ounce against $17.59

Platinum was at $1,425.50 an ounce against $1,410.

Palladium at $370 against $367.

Russia's Norilsk Nickel, the world's biggest palladium producer, said there would be no reduction in its platinum and palladium output next year

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Copper slips as inventories rise


LONDON - Copper fell to its lowest in more than a week on Wednesday as stocks kept rising, while investors cut exposure to riskier assets amid debt concerns in Greece and Dubai, and as the dollar took on a firmer tone.

Copper for three-months delivery on the London Metal Exchange traded at $6,960.00 (U.S.) a tonne at 1118 GMT from a close of $6,980 on Tuesday. It earlier hit a low at $6,874.

Stocks of copper at LME warehouses rose 5,200 tonnes to 458,500 tonnes, their highest level since late April.

"We're now having chunky increases in LME stocks more or less every day," said RBS metals analyst Stephen Briggs.

"This is mostly going into east Asia which suggests some of it is Chinese material. China has massively overbought in base metals this year."

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Aluminum was at $2,165 from $2,163.

Zinc was at $2,326 from $2,327.

Lead was at $2,307 from $2,289.

Tin traded at $15,200 from $15,150

Nickel was at $16,225 from $16,150.

Canada's First Quantum Minerals said it will buy BHP Billiton's closed Ravensthorpe nickel mine for $340-million, paving the way to revive production that could add nearly 3 per cent to world supply.

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Crude prices rise as U.S. supply falls

Oil prices rose above $73 (U.S.) a barrel Wednesday after a report of an unexpected drop in U.S. crude supplies suggested demand may be recovering and the U.S. dollar weakened against other currencies.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for January delivery was up $1.07 to $73.69 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $1.31 to settle at $72.62 on Tuesday.

U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly dropped last week, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. Crude stocks fell 5.8 million barrels while analysts had expected an increase of 600,000 barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

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	24 Hour Base Metals

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Gold & PGM Prices

Dec 9 2009 8:11AM NY Time dd Change Gold 1142.40 +1.25% Platinum 1418.00 +0.50% Palladium 367.00 +0.00% Rhodium 2140.00 -2.73%