Gold futures at 25 year high
New York: Gold futures climbed to $601 an ounce Thursday for the first time in 25 years. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, June gold futures, the most active contract, rose to a high of $601.90 anounce, the highest since January 1981, in trading from buyers in Asia.

In later trading in New York, the contract eased back to settle at $599.70 an ounce after traders booked profits. Spot gold, which peaked at $595.60 an ounce, settled up $7.30 at $595.20 an ounce.

Gold prices have been pushed higher by the strength in other commodity prices, such as oil, which has been rising on supply worries and geopolitical tension, and silver, which has seen surging interest in recent weeks because of a silver exchange-traded fund planned by Barclays Global Investors.

May silver rose 34 cents to settle at $12.045 on the NYMEX.

Funds are betting that commodities will keep outperforming assets such as stocks and bonds. Copper, zinc and silver also have gained this year, along with agricultural commodities including sugar. Copper has climbed 30 percent in 2006. Zinc has jumped 47 per cent. Sugar has advanced 21 per cent.
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BAE in talks for stake sale in Airbus
London: Europe's largest defence firm, BAE Systems Plc, said on Friday it wants to sell its 20-per cent stake in top airliner maker Airbus to EADS, which could give it a war chest of at least $5 billion for acquisitions in the United States.

"Discussions are at an early stage and a further announcement will be made if and when appropriate," BAE said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

EADS is the Franco-German-Spanish firm which owns the remaining 80 per cent stake in Airbus.

"We believe that now is the right time for us to divest our Airbus shareholding to allow us to concentrate on our core transatlantic defense and aerospace strategy," BAE chief executive Mike Turner said.

BAE in recent years has focused much of its growth on the U.S. defense market, which is by far the world's largest.
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