Khaberni - Gold and silver reached record highs on Monday, benefiting from weak US employment data and a weak inflation reading that strengthened bets that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) will cut interest rates in January.
By 02:03 Greenwich Mean Time, spot gold rose about 1% to touch its all-time high at 4384.50 dollars per ounce. The US futures contracts for gold increased 0.7% to 4416.30 dollars per ounce.
Spot silver jumped 3% to reach a record high at 69.14 dollars per ounce.
Gold, as one of the traditional safe-haven assets, rose 67% this year, driven by geopolitical and trade tensions, strong purchases by central banks, and hopes for lower interest rates next year. Silver has increased 125% since the beginning of the year.
US consumer prices rose 2.7% annually in November, which is lower than the 3.1% increase expected by economists surveyed by Reuters.
Assets that do not yield returns, such as gold, tend to rise in a low-interest rate environment.
As for other precious metals, platinum rose 2.6% to 2028.34 dollars per ounce, its highest level in over 17 years. Palladium increased 3.8% to 1772.74 dollars per ounce, its highest level in nearly three years.
