NEW YORK (AFX) - Speculative buying of precious metals returned in New York on Monday as the dollar sagged and oil rose.
August gold gained $7.70 to $648.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
July silver added 21 cents to $12.295 an ounce.
'There is a lower dollar, higher crude-oil prices and the Iranian commentary over the weekend still sounds confrontational,' said Frank Lesh, futures analyst and broker with Future Path Trading.
Funds and speculators were among the buyers, Lesh added.
Monday was the first day of trading after Nymex late last week announced it was eliminating daily price-fluctuation limits. Ironically, the $5.70 pit-session range for the day in August gold was the narrowest since April 13.
July platinum gained $13.60 to $1,258.50 an ounce.
September palladium rose $5.65 to $364 an ounce.
The benchmark July copper contract settled 1.45 cents higher at $3.6010 per pound.
The July crude contract ended 27 cents higher at $72.60 a barrel after rising as high as $73.84 in overnight trading.
July heating oil gained 2.82 cents to $2.0427 a gallon. July gasoline rose 3.33 cents to $2.1642 a gallon.
July natural gas fell 16.0 cents to settle at $6.463 a million British thermal units.
On the New York Board of Trade, July Arabica coffee ended 2.80 cents lower at 98.45 cents a pound while September lost 2.80 cents to $1.0125 a pound.
The July cocoa contract finished $13 higher at $1,474 per metric ton.
Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for July settled up 0.18 cent at 15.39 cents a pound while October gained 0.18 cent to 15.73 cents a pound.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, July corn fell 6.50 cents to $2.53 per bushel. July soybeans ended 5.75 cents lower at $6.0325 a bushel. July wheat ended down 5.25 cents at $3.9850 per bushel.
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