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Gold breaks through $1,100

London - Spot gold extended gains to hit a record high at $1,100.90 per ounce on Friday, fuelled by a falling dollar in volatile trade sparked by weaker-than-expected U.S. non-farm payrolls data.

By 14:48 GMT, spot gold stood at $1,098.40 per ounce, compared with $1,089.55 quoted late in New York on Thursday.

Traders said the market was also continuing to find support from the prospect of central bank buying of gold for reserve diversification purposes.

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Copper prices climb

Shanghai - Copper prices rose about 1 per cent in Shanghai and London on Friday, supported by positive U.S. data and modest gains in Shanghai's equity market, ahead of the week's main event - U.S. non-farm payrolls.

After the market closed, weekly data from the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed copper stocks rose by 1 per cent to a new 5 1/2-year high but the rise was less than half the $3,000-$4,000 tonnes expected by the market.

Shanghai's benchmark third-month copper futures contract rose 0.9 per cent to end at 51,140 yuan, down 0.1 per cent on the week.

"At this point there isn't much interest in trading copper, as seen in dwindling trading volumes. Global consumption isn't great, stockpiles are high, but outlook for next year is optimistic - the market is in short-term balance for now," said a Shanghai-based trader.

"There will be interest if prices jump or tumble, otherwise we'll just have to go through a long enough consolidation period before the trade interest returns."

Copper stocks in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1 per cent from a week earlier to 104,275 tonnes, the highest since late April, 2004.

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Oil slips back under $80


London - Oil slipped below $80 a barrel on Friday, in line with timid gains across financial markets as dealers awaited monthly U.S. jobless data, expected to show a slow-down in rising unemployment in the world's biggest economy.

U.S. crude for December delivery was up 5 cents to $79.67 a barrel by 12:14 GMT, retracing early gains after climbing as high as $80.34 in the trading session.

London Brent crude rose 13 cents to $78.12.

Government figures for release at 8:30 ET were expected to show employers in October cut payrolls by 175,000 jobs, the smallest amount for 14 months, although the jobless rate likely rose to a 26-year high of 9.9 per cent, according to a Reuters survey.

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