Commodities

THE long-running decline in the dollar helped to push the price of gold to a close of dollars 358.25 in London, near the year's high.

Analysts said the old inverse correlation between the dollar and gold, strong in the late 1980s, may have re-emerged.

In the US, comex gold rallied at mid-morning after buying sparked by a slumping dollar lifted futures contracts into buy stops at successive levels, trading up to dollars 358.30.

A City gold analyst said he expected gold was likely to trade as high as dollars 380 an ounce in the current bull run but lack of investment demand for the metal would mean a sell-off at that level.