Oil prices trading higher as gold tips over the $1200 mark

US Light oil prices are trading back above $77 today from three month lows as commodities get a boost and gold prices hit the $1200 mark after the EU agreed to protect the bloc’s debt-stricken nations with a new EU debt fund.

US Light crude oil futures for June delivery was at $77.17 a barrel in Asian trading, after falling more than $11 or about 13 per cent last week.

Gold prices rose as high as $1210.35 per oz last week, and has its sights firmly set on the December 2009 record high of $1226.10 per oz, traders said. “Certainly a pull-back in this market is more than likely, but the overall trend for gold is higher,” Peter Hillyard of ANZ Bank said.

Plummeting oil prices seem to indicate that some investors had become overly optimistic about the strength and pace of a apparent recovery from the global financial crisis and turned to safer investments including gold.

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