* Weak dollar, oil gains, renewed Greek worry help gold
* Silver outperforms gold on speculative buying
* Coming up: U.S. consumer prices on Friday
(Recasts, adds comments, updates market activity, changes byline, dateline, previously LONDON)
By Frank Tang
NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters) - Gold rose 1 percent and silver surged on Thursday, as a combination of dollar weakness, crude oil gains and renewed Greek sovereign debt worries lifted bullion to $10 below its record high.
Gold got a boost from inflation worry triggered by data showing rising U.S. core producer prices in February, and as higher-than-expected jobless claims knocked the dollar.
[ID:nN14146589]
Silver jumped 1.5 percent toward 31-year highs on strong investment buying, sending the gold/silver ratio to a low.
"The combination of higher oil prices, weaker dollar and the resurrection of discussions of Greek sovereign risk problems has galvanized the gold market. It's particularly impressive because we ran into selling above the market yesterday," said James Steel, chief commodity analyst at HSBC.
Spot gold XAU= rose 0.9 percent to $1,467.81 an ounce by 11:28 a.m. EDT (1528 GMT), within striking distance of its record $1,476.21 set on Monday. U.S. gold futures for June delivery GCM1 gained $13.80 to $1,469.40 an ounce.
Investors grew jittery on talk of debt restructuring by Greece, the first euro zone member to receive a bailout a year ago in the crisis that has driven Ireland and Portugal to seek aid and forced draconian budget cuts in Spain. [ID:nLDE73D0XQ]
The European debt crisis has boosted gold this year and also helped power the metal's 30 percent gain last year.
Silver XAG= climbed 1.6 percent to $41.28, near a 31-year high at $41.93 an ounce. (Factbox: [ID:nLDE73D1BQ])
"There is still a lot of speculative, investment money coming into the gold market. Until there is a clear technical signal that the situation is reversed, the momentum of silver remains intact," Steel said.
Analysts are concerned silver may be overbought.
"I don't think it can sustain the market above $40 in the longer term," Steel said.
Silver has rallied about 35 percent year to date on talk of near-term supply tightness as a recovering global economy boosted demand for the industrial metal.
The spread between gold and silver -- showing the relative strength between the two metals -- has nearly halved since last August as silver sharply outperformed bullion.
Holdings of the largest silver ETF, the iShares Silver Trust (SLV.P: Quote), slipped to 10,969.71 tonnes on Wednesday from 11,212.53 tonnes a day before. [ID:nL3E7FD00K]
For platinum group metals, platinum XPT= gained 0.4 percent to $1,775.75, while palladium XPD= inched up 0.1 percent to $761.72.
Prices at 11:28 a.m. EDT (1528 GMT)
LAST NET PCT YTD
CHG CHG CHG
US gold GCM1 1469.40 13.80 1.0% 3.4%
US silver SIK1 41.305 1.083 2.7% 33.6%
US platinum PLN1 1781.80 4.60 0.3% 0.2%
US palladium PAM1 763.90 -1.40 -0.2% -4.9%
Gold XAU= 1467.81 13.20 0.9% 3.4%
Silver XAG= 41.28 0.66 1.6% 33.8%
Platinum XPT= 1775.75 6.60 0.4% 0.5%
Palladium XPD= 761.72 1.09 0.1% -4.7%
Gold Fix XAUFIX= 1465.75 8.25 0.6% 3.9%
Silver Fix XAGFIX= 40.67 45.00 1.1% 32.8%
Platinum Fix XPTFIX= 1772.00 12.00 0.7% 2.4%
Palladium Fix XPDFIX= 763.00 8.00 1.0% -3.5%
(Additional reporting by Jan Harvey in London; Editing by
David Gregorio)
(Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/cameroonNews/idAFLDE73D0WG20110414)
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