Gold futures exchange traded funds (ETFs) closed at their highest level in nearly 28 years on Friday, as gains in the metal were fueled by record-high crude prices as well as the tumbling of the dollar to a new all-time low against the euro. Gold for December delivery rallied $16.50, or 2%, at $787.50 an ounce, reports Polya Lesova for MarketWatch. Gold ETFs that benefited from the increase and their performance year-to-date include:

• streetTracks Gold Shares Fund (GLD) - up 20.9%
• iShares Comex Gold Trust (IAU) - up 20.4%
• PowerShares DB Gold (DGL) - up 12.9% for the last three months, having launched in early 2007. It invests in gold futures not the bullion.

Gold futures weren’t the only winners; oil futures ETFs were too. Crude-oil futures rallied to a new record high on Friday, with worries about U.S. inventories and Mideast tensions combining to send the benchmark energy contract past $92 a barrel. Crude for December delivery rose as high as $92.22 a barrel in electronic trading, a day after the U.S. put new economic sanctions on Iran. Futures-based oil ETFs that benefited from the price increase and their year-to-date performance include:

• United States Oil (USO)  - up 35.9%
• iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (OIL) - up 36.1%

It should come as no surprise that as both gold and oil hit new highs, the dollar continues to hover around all-time lows. That’s because commodities tend to benefit from a weak dollar. On Friday, the dollar was lower against most major currencies except the yen.

Tags: DGL, ETNs, GLD, IAU, Metals, Oil, USO

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