国际英语新闻：Gold soars to record high for third time this week

CHICAGO, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gave back some earlier gains after hitting a fresh all-time high of 1,284.4 dollars per ounce on Friday, suffering selling pressure on dollar rebound as well as investor's profit-taking before weekend. Silver closed at a 30-year high and platinum continued to climb.

The most active gold contract for December delivery rose 3.7 dollars, or 0.3 percent, to finish at a record settlement of 1,277. 5 dollars per ounce.

Gold moved sharply higher during electronic session, fueled by speculations that U.S. Federal Reserve would pump more money into the economy by printing dollar and buying bonds, which would heavily weighed on the dollar sentiment and lead to a new round selling of the greenback, along with rising inflation expectation. And gold will become the biggest beneficiary as investors tends to purchase gold as a hedge against inflation, and a weaker dollar will enhance gold's allure as an alternative investment.

Dollar rebounded and crude oil price turned lower after a survey showed the consumer sentiment unexpectedly plunged in early September to 66.6, which is its weakest level in more than a year, and also short of analyst's expectation of 70.

The strength in dollar weighed on the bullion and reversed its rally after the opening, meanwhile, gold also remained under pressure as investors chose to take profit before the weekend after gold broke new records for the third time this week.

December silver added 4.5 cents, or 0.2 percent, to 20.816 dollars, the highest closing price for a most-active contract since Oct. 16, 1980. October platinum climbed 10 dollars, or 0.6 percent, to 1,621.9 dollars per ounce.