NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Gold returned to higher levels in late Tuesday trade as worries over further downgrades of some European countries’ debt gave the metal a safety bid, though holiday-thinned conditions left prices in a slim range.

Analysts say they expect prices to hold within the $1,360 to $1,400 an ounce range for the rest of the year, with many funds and banks having taken their profits for 2010.

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Gold rose on Monday, even as the euro weakened, as investors sought a safe haven when the European Central Bank issued a warning about the region’s finances and Moody’s said it may cut debt ratings for some Spanish banks.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula also fed the safety bid for gold after an artillery firing drill by the South Korean military on a disputed island near the border with the North.

NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Copper should rise above $10,000 a tonne in
2011 as growth in the United States and other developed economies heats up,
while supplies remain tight, said Barclays Capital on Thursday.

Kevin Norrish, managing director of Barclays’ commodities research,
team told a press briefing that he sees copper prices averaging $9,950 a
tonne through third quarter of 2011, giving it potential to trade up to
$10,000 per tonne.

NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Alcoa Inc (AA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world’s
largest producer of raw material, alumina, has already set some
of its long-term supply contracts under a new pricing scheme
that unties its link to the aluminum metal price, using instead
a basket of indexes to pin down a spot price.

For at least 20 years, Alcoa had set its long-term alumina
supply contracts as a percentage of the London Metal Exchange
aluminum price. Alumina is the intermediate material that gets
turned into aluminum and is made from the raw material bauxite.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Gold rallied over 1.5 percent on Thursday, boosted by a sinking dollar as some investors bet the Federal Reserve’s next round of monetary stimulus could be much larger than previously thought.

Uncertainty over the scope and impact of the Fed’s attempt to stimulate U.S. economic growth knocked the dollar sharply lower. The widely anticipated announcement is due at the end of the Fed’s next policy-setting meeting on November 3.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – AK Steel (AKS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted a third-quarter net loss on Tuesday, with soaring raw material costs and a plant shutdown undermining the effect of higher steel prices.

The West Chester, Ohio-based company also said it expects stagnant conditions to lead to another operating loss in the fourth quarter.

NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Brazilian mining giant Vale
(VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (VALE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will need $26 billion to $28 billion over
the next two years to complete projects it has already started
and plans to focus new investments on copper and fertilizers,
the company’s CEO said on Monday.

Roger Agnelli said the company’s complete investment plan
for 2011 would be released within two weeks.

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Gold moved back toward its all-time high on Monday, despite late gains in the dollar, as investors prepared for what many see as a likely second round of economic stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The U.S. dollar regained strength against the euro and yen in late buying by investors who viewed its recent decline as too far, too fast. <USD/>

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Alcoa Inc (AA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the largest U.S. aluminum producer, expects both its Aviles smelter in Spain and its alumina refinery in Sao Luis, Brazil to be running at full capacity by the end of the year.

Company executives also said on Thursday that the world’s biggest alumina producer is changing the way it prices its alumina, an intermediate material used to produce aluminum.

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Gold hit a record high of $1,300 an ounce on Monday, extending a two-week rally of fresh records on concerns over an economic recovery, before easing off session highs as the dollar rose.

Silver tracked the yellow metal higher, rising to a 30-year high but also slipped from the previous high. Silver has gained nearly 30 percent so far this year.