Crude oil rose for a second day on signs of growing energy demand and Norway shut two offshore platforms. Gold prices also rose after breaching the 14-day moving average, said David Gornall, head of foreign exchange and bullion at Natexis Commodity Markets Ltd. in London.
``The oil price is one of the reasons gold has spiked higher,'' Frederic Panizzutti, a senior vice president at MKS Finance, one of Switzerland's four bullion refiners, said in an interview today.
Gold for immediate delivery traded $8.70, or 1.5 percent, to $588 an ounce as of 1:47 p.m. in London, after earlier adding as much as $10.10. The 14-day moving average stands at $583.66. Gold has gained 2.4 percent this week.
Gold futures for December delivery rose $11.20, or 1.9 percent, to $591.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are 25 percent higher than a year earlier. A futures contract is an obligation to buy or sell a commodity at a set price for delivery by a specific date.
``You have technical funds buying gold right now,'' said Michael Guido, director of hedge-fund marketing at Societe Generale in New York. ``The oil market rallying over $1 push gold over $584.''
``Gold is following oil tick for tick.''
