Forexpros – Gold futures advanced on Monday, climbing to a three-day high as concerns that the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis is worsening underlined the safe haven appeal of the precious metal.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for October delivery traded at USD1,825.65 a troy ounce during late Asian trade, jumping 0.77%.
It earlier rose as much as 0.95% to trade at USD1,828.55 a troy ounce, the highest price since September 14.
A meeting of European Union finance ministers in Poland over the weekend failed to produce an agreement on how to resolve the region’s ongoing debt crisis.
Fears over a possible Greek debt default also underpinned prices as EU ministers postponed a decision to release the next tranche of aid to the debt-laden country until next month.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou canceled a planned visit to the U.S. in order to hold crisis talks at home, while Greek media reported that Greece’s government held a cabinet meeting on Sunday to discuss how to plug a budget shortfall and avoid default.
Later in the day, officials from the EU and the International Monetary Fund were to hold talks with Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos to discuss whether Athens qualifies for its next tranche of aid.
The news prompted investors to shun riskier assets, such as stocks and high yielding currencies, and flock to traditional safe haven assets like U.S. Treasuries and gold.
Meanwhile, Mark Cutifani, chief executive of AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s third largest gold miner, said that he expects gold prices to hit USD2,200 an ounce in 2012, supported by the “economic uncertainties in Europe and the U.S.”.
Cutifani and other mining executives will meet in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this week for the annual Denver Gold Forum.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery eased up 0.09% to trade at USD40.77 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery tumbled 2.2% to trade USD3.841 a pound.
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