Gold Futures Rally
Gold prices were rising again Monday as fund managers continued buying in the wake of questions about the U.S. economy and more concerns about the British banking system.
December-dated contracts were tacking on $8.40 at $726.20 an ounce in recent action on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The fund managers who have taken the first steps in changing their allocation models are now starting to include gold as a hedge, a safe-haven asset," says Peter Spina, a strategist at GoldSeek.com. "They are providing the huge surge of investment demand which will overwhelm the market supply in the coming months."
Nowhere has the jump in demand been more noticeable than in the exchange-traded funds that hold inventories of bullion. Since Aug. 16, the
streetTracks Gold Shares
(GLD) - Get Report
, the largest such ETF, has added about 60 tons of the metal, worth about $1.4 billion, to its inventory.
Over the same period, the
iShares Comex Gold Trust
(IAU) - Get Report
, which also holds inventories of bullion, has added about 1 ton of the metal.
Among other metals, silver prices were rising 13 cents at $12.84 an ounce, while copper was up 4 cents at $3.43 a pound.
In the mining patch, London-based
Rio Tinto
(RTP)
was losing more than 2%, in line with a wider drop in the U.K.
Anglo-American
(AAUK)
was also slipping, off 1.2% in recent market action.
As for other commodities, coffee contracts were jumping almost 5% at $1.27 a pound. Wheat prices were rising 2% at $8.64 a bushel. Orange juice futures were losing more than 2% at $1.22 a pound.
Elsewhere, fruit firm
Fresh Del Monte
(FDP) - Get Report
was rallying over 7% following an upgrade to a buy rating from sell by BB&T Capital Markets.