Gold hits two-week high in Asia

Gold extended gains Tuesday to hit near two weeks high, mainly on lingering Euro zone debt worries while silver remained steady. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1516.74 an ounce at 12.30pm Singapore time while Silver barely moved at $35.16 an ounce. Meanwhile euro-denominated bullion rose to a record above 1,081 euros an ounce. However, Bullion was still below a lifetime high of $1,575.79 an ounce struck in early May. Holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange traded fund, New York's SPDR Gold Trust, rose 0.63%, while that of the largest silver-backed ETF, New York's iShares Silver Trust, dropped 0.15% from Friday to Monday. On Monday, Gold futures settled higher, getting some flight-to-safety bids as concerns about euro-zone debt resurfaced and trumped a rising dollar. June gold futures settled up $6.50 at $1,515.40 an ounce, after touching its own near two-week peak at $1,519. Spot silver was last at $35.08 ounce. US silver futures shed 18.30 cents to finish at $34.904 an ounce. A rising dollar and fears the global economy is slowing down weighed on other metals, with the July copper contract /quotes/comstock/21e!f:hgn11 down 3.2% at $3.99 a pound.