Copied this from another thread. Hope they don't mind. macrae12...

Copied this from another thread. Hope they don't mind.



macrae12
Post #: 202552
Start of thread:
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Sentiment: Buy
Disclosure: Stock Held
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SINGAPORE, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Oil and precious metals held
near record highs on Thursday after starting 2008 with a bang,
and prices were expected to stay strong as funds pour money into
crude and bullion.

The weak dollar, cold weather in the United States and unrest
in Nigeria helped lift oil, which in turn boosted gold. However,
industrial metals were immune to the euphoria as investors
fretted about falls in equity markets and weak economic data.

"There is new money coming in from the funds and they want to
put it somewhere fairly safe in these troubled times. Oil and
gold are high up on their shopping list," a commodities trader in
Australia said.

U.S. light crude for February delivery fell 25 cents
to $99.37 a barrel by 0426 GMT. Crude touched a record of $100 in
the previous session, surpassing November's $99.29 peak.

"We still have our maximum quota on oil and we don't see any
reason to lighten up our position at all since all the risks are
still to the upside," said Justin Wilkes, a fund manager at
Global Commodities in Australia.

Spot gold eased $1.20 at $854.50 an ounce. It hit
$861.10 an ounce on Wednesday, surpassing its previous peak of
$850.00 set in 1980.

Platinum ticked up to $1,540 an ounce from $1,539,
near Wednesday's record high of $1,544.

"Underlying the strength in commodities is the drop in the
dollar, but there are also some one-off issues," senior ANZ
commodities analyst Mark Pervan said.

"Oil is particularly news-sensitive at the moment as we are
in the peak heating oil demand period and prices are being driven
by cold weather in the United States and tensions in oil producer
Nigeria and to a lesser extent, Pakistan."
Suspected militants mounted attacks in Nigeria's oil city,
Port Harcourt, on Tuesday, killing 18. Regular attacks by
militant groups since February 2006 have already cut oil exports
by the world's eighth-largest crude exporter by about 20 percent.

Investors will now be watching if crude can establish itself
firmly above $100 a barrel.

"If it can do that for two or three sessions, you could see
longs re-positioning above $100 and a new trading range, perhaps
between $95 and $105 in the near term. For prices to go much
higher, we would need a another very cold snap in the United
States and/or more unrest in Nigeria," Pervan said.