U.S. gold hits $1,000 record high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures rallied to a record high of $1,000 an ounce on Thursday, fueled by a combination of a weakening dollar, strong investment demand and inflation fears due to rising crude oil prices.

At 8:27 a.m. EDT, the active contract for April delivery was up $17.30 or 1.7 percent at $997.70 an ounce. Just minutes earlier, it had hit an all-time high of $1,000 on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

(Reporting by Frank Tang; Editing by John Picinich)