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NEW YORK, US - WEAK US gold futures and the rallying American dollar pressured agricultural markets on Friday, while crude oil closed at a record high for the fourth time this week.
US rice futures also ended firm but eased off a record top hit during Asian trading hours.
The combination of the rising dollar and upbeat US stock market pushed gold futures on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) to settle down 3 per cent.
'You see the stock market and crude pushing strong today. It just seems to me that the risk appetite of the market is back, and people are going full steam out of the safe haven place and right back into the risky place,' said Zachary Oxman, senior trader of Wisdom Financial in Newport Beach, California.
The firm US dollar makes gold futures, along with other dollar-denominated futures contracts, more expensive for investors holding other currencies.
Comex June gold futures settled down US$27.70 (S$37.67) at US$915.20 an ounce. Spot gold was at US$916.40/917.20 at 2.15 pm EDT (2.15am Saturday Singapore time), compared with US$938.90/939.70 at Thursday's close.
Oil, however, set a record high US$117 a barrel, recovering from an earlier drop of more than US$2 a barrel, on supply snags and after buyers stepped in. Jitters over Nigerian oil supplies outweighed a rally in the greenback and fears of an economic slowdown in giant energy consumer China.
On the Nymex, US crude settled up US$1.83 or 1.6 per cent, at US$116.69 a barrel, a record close.
Rough rice futures trading on the Chicago Board of Trade set a fresh record high, soaring as concerns about stocks of Asia's staple food remained.
CBOT May rice futures ended up 41 US cents at US$23.71 per hundredweight, after hitting a record high over US$24 during Asian trading hours. -- REUTERS
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