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Gold hits record near $1,200 an ounce

* China data helps propel copper towards 14-month high

LONDON: Gold hit record highs near $1,200 an ounce on Tuesday as dollar weakness fuelled buying of the metal as an alternative asset, while investors speculating on more gains were cheered by recovery from last week’s setback.

Spot gold hit a peak of $1,198.70 an ounce and was bid at $1,190.20 an ounce at 1315 GMT, against $1,179.10 late in New York on Monday. US gold futures for February delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange also hit a record $1,200.50 an ounce and were later up $9.40 at $1,191.70. In the physical market, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings rose 2.134 tonnes to 1,129.994 tonnes as of Nov. 30.

Among other precious metals, spot silver was bid at $18.64 an ounce against $18.45. Platinum was at $1,465.50 an ounce against $1,452, while palladium was at $376.50 against $363.50, having earlier touched a high of $379 an ounce, its firmest since August 2008.

Copper at 14-month high: Copper rose to within a whisker of 14-months highs on Tuesday, boosted by manufacturing data from China, easing fears of contagion from a debt crisis in Dubai and a weaker dollar.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $7,015 a tonne in official rings compared with a session high of $7,041 and Monday’s close at $6,930 a tonne. Data showed China, the world’s largest consumer of industrial metals, is ending the year on a strong note, laying the foundations for solid expansion in 2010. Stocks of copper in LME warehouses at around 441,000 tonnes are up 70 percent since July and the highest since April, while stocks of aluminium at near 4.6 million tonnes are within sight of the record 4.629 million tonnes seen in September.

Aluminium touched $2,097.50 a tonne, the highest since Aug 5 on buying related to activity in options, which give buyers the right to buy or sell the three-month contract at a fixed price in the future. The metal used in transport and packaging traded at $2,080 a tonne from $2,055 at the close on Monday. Stocks of nickel rose to 140,646 tonnes, the highest since January 1995 and only about 20,000 tonnes below the record high of 151,254 set on Nov 25, 1994. Zinc was untraded in the rings, but bid at $2,332 from $2,322, lead was bid at $2,370 from $2,345 and tin at $14,950 from $15,200 on Monday. reuters

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