Gold surges- $1,010 as $1 touches 1 yr lowBy Moming Zhou, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures surged to a new 18-month high Friday, heading for their fourth weekly gain as the U.S. dollar fell against the euro to a fresh one-year low, boosting gold's investment appeal.
The thinly traded September gold contract was last up $13.80, or 1.4%, to $1,009.20 an ounce. The contract rose to $1,011.90 earlier, the highest level for a nearby contract since March 17, 2008.
Gold prices, which topped the $1,000 mark on both Tuesday and Friday, are set to end the week up about 1%.
The more actively traded December contract rose $14.20, or 1.4%, to $1,010.90 an ounce after hitting $1,013.70. The London afternoon fixing, a global gold benchmark, stood at $1,008.25 an ounce Friday, up 1.8% from a day ago.
"Gold continues its steady upward move helped by technical buying and lower dollar," said George Gero, a precious-metals trader for RBC Capital Markets.
In currencies trading, the dollar fell for a fourth session, with the euro rising to $1.4634 earlier in the session, the highest level since last September. The dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0 (DXY 76.67, -0.15, -0.19%) was down 0.2% at 76.636.
Gold's gain was "motivated by further declines in the U.S. dollar," said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc. The targets "for the dollar-euro rate at $1.46 were achieved and have given rise to 'what's next' type of questions from trading quarters we surveyed."
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust /quotes/comstock/13*!gld/quotes/nls/gld (GLD 98.61, +0.91, +0.93%) , the biggest gold exchange-traded fund, stood at 1,077.63 metric tons Thursday, unchanged for a fourth session.
Moming Zhou is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York