Gold hit a record high above $1,620 an ounce

Gold Price Today July 25, 2011: Gold hit a record high above $1,620 an ounce

Spot gold, which has risen nearly 14 percent so far this year, climbed more than 1 percent to a record of $1,622.49 an ounce, before easing to $1,614.06 by 0054 GMT. U.S. gold also hit a record at $1,624.30. It was last quoted at $1,614.80.

Clocks are ticking towards the August 2 deadline for U.S. deficit talks, while President Barack Obama and congressional leaders struggled late on Sunday to break a partisan impasse.

"Markets are focusing on whether the negotiations will be resolved," said Natalie Robertson, a commodities analyst at ANZ. "At this time, we'll see continued volatility and increased safe-haven buying in gold."

Hedge funds and other large speculators last week boosted their bullish bets in U.S. gold futures to the highest in nearly two years as gold rallied on the euro zone's debt crisis and uncertainties around the U.S. deficit talks.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's last week reiterated that there was a 50-50 chance the U.S. AAA credit rating could be cut within three months.

Spot gold has rallied in 14 of this month's 17 trading sessions, and is up 7.6 percent from the end of last month. But so far this year, it has lagged spot silver's 31 percent climb.

"If the U.S. defaults, gold will go up. If they manage to deal with it, we may see gold come down quite quickly," a trader based in Singapore said.

The U.S. dollar steadied against a basket of currencies as investors looked for signs of progress to break the impasse in the U.S. budget talks.

Spot silver gained 0.9 percent to $40.38, after a 1.9 percent gain last week. U.S. silver rose 0.8 percent to $40.44.

Precious metals prices 0054 GMT

Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume

Spot Gold 1614.06 15.22 +0.95 13.71

Spot Silver 40.38 0.36 +0.90 30.85

Spot Platinum 1795.49 2.49 +0.14 1.58

Spot Palladium 804.50 0.25 +0.03 0.63

TOCOM Gold 4073.00 53.00 +1.32 9.22 37410

TOCOM Platinum 4578.00 14.00 +0.31 -2.51 2713

TOCOM Silver 101.40 3.40 +3.47 25.19 352

TOCOM Palladium 2037.00 -2.00 -0.10 -2.86 90

COMEX GOLD AUG1 1614.80 13.30 +0.83 13.61 22767

COMEX SILVER SEP1 40.44 0.31 +0.78 30.69 4897

Euro/Dollar 1.4381

Dollar/Yen 78.39

TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.

COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months

(Reporting by Rujun Shen;Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Gold hit a record high above $1,620 an ounce , Gold Price Today July 25, 2011: Gold hit a record high above $1,620 an ounce

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