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Gold price reaches $700 mark
 Gold is trading at a 25-year high of $700 an ounce. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSSINGAPORE (Reuters) -- Gold rose to a 25-year high above $700 an ounce on Wednesday, prompting some investors to take profits on bullion's sharp rally this year, while platinum surged to a record high on speculative buying. Gold has risen around 35 percent this year as investors diversified into precious metals as a hedge against global tensions, including over Iran's nuclear ambitions, rising energy costs and uncertainty about the dollar's outlook. Spot gold rose as high as $700.70 in Asia, up from around $500 at the end of 2005 and compared with less than $300 at the start of the decade. It touched a low of $697.70 in Asian trading. The metal was trading around $699.90/700.90 late in New York on Tuesday. As spot gold rose above $700, benchmark gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rallied by a daily limit of 60 yen to 2,538 yen per gram. Some dealers now expect volatile trading as some investors look to take profits. "I think there's a potential of volatility. It looks like until we are going to London, we may all struggle to get over about $703," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at N M Rothschild in Sydney. He cited support for gold around $686. Traders said market talk that economists had urged China to quadruple its gold reserves to 2,500 tonnes from the current 600 tonnes had also spurred the rally, particularly in New York where the metal rose as high as $700.50. China has the biggest foreign exchange reserves in the world at more than $875 billion and is the world's third-largest gold consumer. But some dealers doubted China's central bank would buy gold at current high prices. "We've been talking about China increasing its reserves for half a year and I doubt it that it's going to happen. People made use of this to push up the price last night," said a dealer in Hong Kong. "The market is still in the upward trend but people are cautious. There's some physical selling around $700," he said. A weaker dollar has also made dollar-denominated gold cheaper in other currencies. The dollar held near an eight-month low against the yen on Wednesday ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting that could signal an end to a two-year stretch of rising U.S. interest rates. Copper surgesAmong other metals, copper prices hit a new high near $8,000 a tonne Wednesday as investment funds dominated in a market fuelled by strong demand and concerns over supply disruptions, driving Shanghai futures higher. Wednesday's gains in London Metal Exchange's flagship copper contract came after Grupo Mexico announced it would close one of its copper, silver and zinc mines, and amid an expected decline in production at a copper mine in Chile. By 0400 GMT, LME copper for delivery in three months was up $95 or more than 1 percent at $7,910/$7,940 a tonne, topping Tuesday's all-time high of $7,875. "We are marching towards $8,000," said Shen Haihua, vice president of Maike Futures in Shanghai. "It should be achieved. A little bit crazy but I do not see any negative factors." LME copper gained $185, or 2.4 percent, to close at $7,815 on Tuesday, as investors flocked into the hot commodities sector, pushing zinc and platinum up to record highs, aluminium to a new 18-year peak and gold to a 25-year high above $700 an ounce. "Fund investments have added a lot of extra heat to the market," said David Thurtell, commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Copper, used in wiring, tubing and coins, has gained as much as 80 percent this year and has increased more than fivefold since 2001. In supply news, Grupo Mexico will close its San Martin copper, silver and zinc mine because it says local government has refused to break up a long strike, the latest in a barrage of body blows for the company. Chile's Los Pelambres copper mine, owned by Antofagasta Plc, said on Tuesday it expects to produce 319,000 tonnes of copper this year, down 4.4 percent from last year. With gains in London copper prices, Shanghai copper futures jumped by their daily upper trading limits to a record. 
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