Gold and silver rallied today, heading for the longest stretch of gains since August, as fears among speculators and investors increased demand for safer assets. Last week’s poor US employment data was just one of the reasons for traders to worry about the state of the global economy. Times of fear and uncertainty are often beneficial for precious metals.
Gold also gained as the last year’s drop of prices boosted demand in China. Consumption in the Asian nations surged 41 percent in 2013, rising above the 1,000 ton level for the first time in history. The surge made China the top user of the precious metal in the world, replacing India in this role.
April futures for delivery of gold rose $9.1 (0.72 percent) to $1,274.9 per troy ounce as of 18:54 GMT on COMEX today.
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