Speculation about deepening financial trouble for Portugal helped boost the price of precious metals futures Tuesday morning.
As Portugal prepares to auction 10-year bonds on Wednesday, gold futures for February delivery rose $3 on the Comex to $1,377.10 at 11:25 a.m. EST. Silver futures for March delivery gained 66.4 cents to trade at $29.25 per troy ounce, while platinum futures for April delivery climbed $19.90 to $1,765 per troy ounce.
The emerging potential that the European Union will be forced to bail out yet another struggling nation "translates into people seeking safe-haven refuge, especially in gold and silver," Bernard Sin, head of currency and metal trading at bullion refiner MKS Finance SA in Geneva, told Bloomberg News.
Portugal's bond auction is scheduled to be the first conducted by Europe's most indebted nations this year. The nation's 10-year debt has yielded in excess of 7 percent during 10 of the past 62 days. Less than one month after Greek and Irish 10-year debt yielded more than 7 percent, those nations sought bailouts.
"The market is very concerned about the way Europe is evolving financially," Sin stated.
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