Gold rallies, silver hits three year high
In the London markets, gold prices rallied in early afternoon trade, while silver powered up to its highest level in more than 3 years, with both metals driven higher by physical and speculative buying, analysts said.
At 3.19 pm, gold was up US$4.33 at 365.58 per ounce, while silver charged up 14 cents to US$5.19 per ounce, after briefly reaching US$5.22 per ounce, its highest level since February 2000.
Base metals also looked positive, with recent economic indicators pointing to improving prospects for demand, analysts said.
At 3.21 pm, copper pushed up US$24 at 1,773.50 Usd/tonne, its highest level since March 2001.
Ingrid Sternby analyst at Barclays Capital said: "Expectations of further improvements in economic data this week combined with production curtailments, soaring mining equity share prices and upbeat price projections by Chinese market participants are all lending support (for copper) at present, with US$1800 per tonne in sight," said Sternby at Barclays.
Aluminium also looked strong, trading up 10.50 Usd at 1,449.50 Usd/tonne, and scaling Friday's high of 1,462.00 Usd/tonne, its highest price since March 2002.
Nickel gained US$54.95 at US$9,240 per tonne, while tin added US$30 at US$4,845 per tonne.
Lead was up US$5.00 at US$527 per tonne.
