Irish government bonds fell While the gold rising for the third time this week

Irish government bonds fell after Moody's Investors Service downgraded the credit rating of Ireland. The agency said this week that could reduce Spain. Gold has risen 26 percent this year, an item for tenth consecutive annual increase, in the midst of the crisis in Europe and the increasing debt that the Federal Reserve buying government bonds.


Gold rose for the third time this week as concern that the fiscal crisis deepened in Europe boosted demand for the metal as a haven.

"The Fed has kept the door open for further purchases of bonds and the debt crisis in the euro area is heating up again," said Matt Zeman, a metals trader at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago. "That's going to take a good apartment in gold prices."

Gold futures for February delivery rose $ 8.20, or 0.6 percent, to settle at $ 1,379.20 an ounce at 14:22 on the Comex in New York. The metal touched a record $ 1432.50 on 7 December.

The Federal Reserve held this week a plan to buy back $ 600 billion in bonds to boost the economy. benchmark interest rate the U.S. has been the record level of zero to 0.25 percent for two years.

Through yesterday, the gold assets in exchange-traded products have risen 17 percent this year to 2,097.83 metric tons. Holdings reached a record 2,104.65 tonnes on 14 October.

'Strong' demand

"We expect gold and silver will continue to back out strongly in an environment where central banks keep interest rates low and investment demand remains strong," said analysts at Deutsche Bank AG in a report released today.

Gold prices are still up 0.4 this week, the second consecutive weekly loss.

Silver futures for March delivery rose 35.1 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $ 29,133 an ounce on the Comex, down 1.8 percent in the week. The metal has gained 73 percent this year.

Palladium futures for March delivery fell $ 3.95, or 0.5 percent, to $ 738.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price is 0.8 percent this week.

Platinum futures for January delivery fell 10 cents to $ 1698.50 an ounce. The price is 1.4 percent this week.

Palladium has risen 81 percent this year, and platinum rose 15 percent.