Gold Rises to 17-Year High; Investors Move Away From Currencies
Gold Rises to 17-Year High; Investors Move Away From Currencies
Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Gold prices rose to a 17-year high in New York as investors bought the precious metal as an alternative to currencies.
``It shows a growing lack of respect for all currencies,'' said Dennis Gartman, an economist and editor of the Gartman Letter. ``You can't have a bull market in gold until it starts going up in all currencies, and that's what it's doing now.''
Argentina's central bank may increase gold reserves as a hedge against inflation and protection against a financial crisis, Juan Ignacio Basco, bank head of market operations, said yesterday in London. Increased reserves helped South America's second-biggest economy stabilize its currency and revive investor confidence after a $95 billion debt default triggered a plunge in the peso in 2002.
Gold futures for December delivery rose $4.30, or 1 percent, to $458 at 8:59 a.m. an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices earlier reached $459, the highest since June 1988.
Gold has gained 5.4 percent since Aug. 30, climbing in 10 of the past 11 sessions.
A futures contract is an obligation to sell or buy a commodity at a set price by a specific date.
To contact the reporter on this story: Pham-Duy Nguyen in Seattle at pnguyen@bloomberg.net
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