PRECIOUS-Silver hits record near $50, first time since 1980 Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:47pm GMT

* Silver hits record high near $50 first time since 1980
* Spot gold hits record for a second day as dollar drops
* Inflation, economic uncertainty cited after Bernanke
(Recasts, adds comments, updates market activity, changes
byline, dateline, previously LONDON)
By Frank Tang
NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - Silver soared to an all-time
high on Thursday and gold rose to another record, as a falling
dollar and signs that the Federal Reserve would maintain a
loose monetary policy boosted precious metals' appeal as a
hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty.
Silver briefly climbed to within a whisker of $50 an ounce,
eclipsing the peak hit when Texan brothers William Hebert and
Nelson Bunker Hunt sought to corner the silver market three
decades ago. The metal later pulled back on technical selling.
"Yesterday's speech from the Fed was an acknowledgment of
the continuing of the strategy by the Fed and Washington ... to
monetize our debt, and basically to devalue the dollar," said
Robert Lutts, chief investment officer of Cabot Money
Management, which oversees more than $500 million in client
assets.
"The metal markets are recognizing that and it is being
priced in. What monetization means is that, down the road, we
will have more inflation," he said.
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Take a Look on rise of gold, silver [ID:nLDE73E15G]
Graphic of silver best-performing commodity:
r.reuters.com/duj88r
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Spot silver XAG=, which has rocketed nearly 60 percent so
far this year, rose 1.5 percent to $48.49 an ounce by 12:24
p.m. EDT (1624 GMT), having earlier hit a record $49.51 an
ounce.
Adjusted for inflation, however, the current price of
silver is still sharply below its record at well above $100 an
ounce.
Spot gold XAU= rose to a lifetime high of $1,538.35 an
ounce, breaking records for the ninth time in 10 sessions. It
was later traded at $1,527.87 an ounce, up 0.1 percent.
Prices at 12:24 p.m. EDT (1624 GMT)
LAST NET PCT YTD
CHG CHG CHG
US gold GCM1 1528.60 11.50 0.8% 7.5%
US silver SIK1 48.480 2.522 5.5% 56.7%
US platinum PLN1 1835.90 16.70 0.9% 3.2%
US palladium PAM1 774.05 15.95 2.1% -3.6%
Gold XAU= 1527.87 1.47 0.1% 7.6%
Silver XAG= 48.49 0.73 1.5% 57.1%
Platinum XPT= 1829.99 10.54 0.6% 3.5%
Palladium XPD= 770.97 7.52 1.0% -3.6%
Gold Fix XAUFIX= 1535.50 4.50 0.3% 8.9%
Silver Fix XAGFIX= 48.70 340.00 7.5% 59.0%
Platinum Fix XPTFIX= 1835.00 15.00 0.8% 6.0%
Palladium Fix XPDFIX= 777.00 8.00 1.0% -1.8%
(Additional reporting by Christopher Kelly in New York,
Rebekah Curtis and Amanda Cooper in London and Lewa Pardomuanin
Singapore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)