Montreal -- (Kitco News) --CME Group hit a record volume of 424,316 COMEX gold futures contracts on Thursday, the third highest metals volume in the history of the exchange, said Joe Raia the director of energy and metals for the Chicago-based group. 

"If you look at quarterly earnings – we are running at near record levels on all our metals volume and specifically for gold,” said Raia in an interview with Kitco News. The previous record was 409,842, reached in May of this year.

Additionally, it was the third highest volume for the metals complex ever with 560,564 contracts traded in the gold, silver, copper, palladium, platinum and US steel futures and options on futures listings. That record volume for the complex is held at 581,484 in November 2009.

There is a continued focus on macroeconomic trends, bank issues and overall  economic issues that still have investors focusing on gold as a hedge in times of uncertainty, said Raia.

“If you look at gold going back to the beginning of the year, there has been a continued focus on that commodity as a safe haven,” he said.

With the situation somewhat stabilizing in Europe, Raia still feels gold will be sought after.

"If you look at the amount of open interest, it is at near record levels. Going forward the commodity (gold) will still be used to hedge risk,” he said.

CME Group also reported Thursday that second-quarter total revenues increased 26 percent to $814 million and operating income increased 29 percent to $515 million from the year-ago period.

By Daniela Cambone of Kitco News;dcambone@kitco.com

Editor’s Note: Meet the Kitco News Team at the upcoming Kitco Metals eConference September 12-13, 2010. A not-to-be missed event featuring Ron Paul, Marc Faber and other industry heavyweights. The eConference is free with Pre- Registration www.kitcoeconf.com.

****