Gold Ends Weds 0.7% Higher as Dollar & Stocks Fall on Sept. Warning for US Investors

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold fell to $880.80 in Asia on Wednesday, and rose to $894 at the New York open before falling back again.

The US Dollar index then fell and Treasuries rose as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell about 1% on more financial worries after a respected analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland said that the S&P will fall 300 points by September due to failing credit markets and soaring inflation.

Gold Prices rallied higher into the close and ended with a gain of 0.73% for the day.

Silver fell to $16.95 and rose to $17.46 before it dropped back under $17.20 per ounce. It also rallied higher into the close and ended with a gain of 1.5%.

The Gold Price in Euros rose to about €574 per ounce, platinum gained $30.50 to $2088, and copper gained nearly 9 cents to about $3.74.

Gold and silver equities remained near unchanged for most of trade as higher metal prices battled a generally weak stock market, but the miners did rise to find nearly 1% gains by the close.

There were no major economic reports, but the Mortgage Bankers Association reported a fall of 8.7% in applications during the week to last Friday.

Crude oil fell in early trade as US inventory stockpiles came in rather tame with refinery activity rising and gasoline demand falling, but prices rose in late trade and ended with a nearly 2% gain on worries over a strike in Nigeria and word from the US energy secretary that he will not advise tapping into the strategic petroleum reserve as some had suspected the government may do.

The White House also said it does not expect Saudi Arabia to announce a production increase at their meeting this weekend. While President Bush called for an end to the offshore US drilling ban, few have any confidence that measure can work its way through Congress.

US crude oil inventories fell 1.2 million barrels last week, gasoline inventories fell 1.2 million barrels, distillate inventories rose 2.6 million barrels, and refinery utilization climbed 0.7% to 89.3%.

Thursday at 14:30 GMT brings Initial Jobless Claims for last week, expected at 375,000. Then comes the Leading Economic Indicators report for May, expected to be flat, and the Philadelphia Fed survey, expected to be negative.

Looking to Buy Gold online today? "If there's an easier route to Gold Investment," says one BullionVault customer, "I've yet to find it..."