Reply #6: Gold sees 2-week peak as investors run for safety [View All]

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold prices jumped to two-week highs on Monday as investors sought refuge from financial market uncertainty, the dollar slipped and oil prices held firm near record highs.

Platinum hit a record high of $1,486 an ounce on worries about falling supplies from South Africa after the country's biggest union said last week it was planning a strike against the mounting number of mine deaths.

Spot gold hit $836.70 a troy ounce, the highest since November 9 and was up at $836.15/836.85 by 5:43 a.m. EST, compared with $821.20/821.90 late in New York on Friday. Earlier this month it hit a 28-year high of $845.40.

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WATCHING EQUITIES

Traders expect gold prices to stay at current levels and possibly test the record high of $850 an ounce set in January 1980, but they think that another downturn in equity markets could see gold prices fall.

Over the course of this year, many investors have sold gold to cover stock market losses, while others have cut their holdings of the precious metal alongside other investments to take their portfolios back to neutral.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071126/bs_nm/markets_precious_dc