Gold futures settled at a record high Thursday as investors sought to protect their wealth, and silver rose to a fresh 30-month high, rallying as a cheaper alternative to bullion. Gold for December delivery rose $5.10, or 0.4 percent, to $1,273.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It handily surpassed Tuesday's settlement price of $1,271.70 an ounce, which was the standing record. “The overall theme I keep hearing is general investor confusion,” said Matt Zeman, a senior strategist at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago. “People are reluctant to pour money into equities, and (bond) yields are nil so people see gold as an opportunity.” A potential trigger for further gold gains could come from the US Federal Reserve, which meets on Sept. 21 and could announce further quantitative easing (QE), said analysts. Still, gold was sharply below its inflation-adjusted all-time high at above $2,200 an ounce. COMEX final gold volume at a quiet 93,408 lots. December silver added 20 cents, or 1 percent, to $20.77 an ounce. That marked silver's highest finish since early March 2008 and hovered close to the metal's highest price since the 1980s. Silver was riding the coattails of gold's success and benefiting from being a cheaper alternative to bullion. In addition, despite uncertainty surrounding the recovery and concerns about the economy, “there's still economic expansion,” said Carlos Sanchez, at commodities consulting firm CPM Group. in New York. A weaker dollar did its part to push precious metals higher. The dollar index, which compares the greenback with a basket of six currencies, retreated 0.3 percent to 81.27. Further support came from the day's murky economic data. Initial jobless claims fell more than expected, but business activity in the Philadelphia area slowed. Platinum for October delivery rose $6.60, or 0.4 percent, to $1,611.90 an ounce. Palladium for December delivery retreated $10.25, or 1.8 percent, to $549.35 an ounce. The SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange-traded fund backed by gold, recorded inflows of 4 metric tons on Wednesday, the latest day for which statistics are available.
