Gold skyrockets to new record price

Gold continued its northern journey in Asian trade Tuesday and even become costlier than Platinum for the first time in three years as markets remained paralyzed after Standard & Poor’s cut the U.S. credit rating. Gold for immediate delivery surged to a record $1754.24 an ounce before eased to $1753.50 an ounce while US gold Futures hit an all time high of $1774.80 an ounce before eased to $1759.51 an ounce on the comex division of Nymex. Analysts said gold is the most beneficent of the market situation and is likely to extend gains at least for two days before settling down as equity markets dived on growing fears of a global recession following last week''s U.S. credit downgrade The precious yellow metal rose more than two percent to another record high in Asia with leading Gold consumer India''s benchmark gold futures on the Multi Commodity Exchange recorded a new high. MCX gold for October delivery was seen trading at Rs 26,043 per ten grams at 11.00 a.m Indian time after hitting as high as Rs 26,198 in early trade. In Japan, Gold futures gained further ground on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange Tuesday morning, with the top contract for June 2012 climbing 45 yen to 4,333 yen per gram just after 10 a.m., briefly surpassing the previous all-time high of 4,326 yen logged on Sept. 9, 1982. On Monday, Gold futures settled at a record as markets reacted to Standard & Poor''s move late Friday to downgrade the U.S. credit ratings. Gold for December delivery settled $61.40 higher, or 3.7%, $1,713.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.(QNA) ST/LY