Gold prices were in for a slight correction early in the day, dragged down by profit taking after setting a new record at US$1,394/oz on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
However, gold rebounded later and spot prices set a new record high of US$1,396.5/oz later in the session.
The yellow metal soared after the Fed announced a larger than expected US$600 billion round of quantitative easing on Wednesday, weakening the US dollar to increase gold’s appeal as an inflation hedge and an alternative investment to the American currency.
Gold, which is usually used as a safe harbour by investors, was unaffected by today’s better than expected non-farm payrolls data, which showed an increase of 151,000 for October.
Gold last traded at US$1,391/oz. Silver rallied to US$26.53/oz, while platinum fell to US$1,761/oz.
Silver miners surged as the metal hit a new 30 year high well above US$26/oz. Fresnillo (LON:FRES) rallied 3.3%, while midcap Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) advanced 3.8%.
FTSE 250 constituent Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) also did well, rising 2.7%.
Other miing companies were in decline.
In the FTSE 100, platinum producer Lonmin (LON:LMI) lost nearly 1%, while gold miner African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) dipped 1.3%. Peer Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) was flat.
Midcap gold producer Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) was sitting just below the opening level.
Turkey and Saudi Arabia operating gold and copper explorer KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI) performed very well, rallying 15%. The only publicly listed gold mining company with primary operations inside the Republic of Uzbekistan, Oxus Gold (LON:OXS), followed with a 9% gain.