Gold futures rose Thursday, briefly topping $970 an ounce for the first time in two months, as central banks in Europe continued to loosen their monetary policy, raising gold's value as a hedge against potential inflation.
The Bank of England boosted its quantitative-easing program by an unexpectedly large 50 billion pounds ($84 billion) Thursday. On the same day, the European Central Bank left its key lending rate unchanged at a historic low of 1%, as expected. See Currencies.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, August gold futures were last up $1.50, or 0.2%, at $965.70 an ounce, after hitting $971.10 earlier. The more active December contract rose 0.2% to $967.90 an ounce.
"Currency movements and short-term speculative interest have become the main drivers of prices, as longer-term investment buying has taken a back seat for the time being," said Natalya Naqvi, an analyst at Barclay's Capital.
Demand for exchange-traded funds remained sluggish. Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust(GLD 94.70, -0.08, -0.08%) , the biggest gold ETF, stood at 1,072.87 metric tons Wednesday, unchanged for a fifth session, according to the fund.
"While we remain broadly bullish, gold may struggle to gain significantly in the short term, as rallies above $965 are expected to see a pickup in metal flows back into the market," said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com.
"The yellow metal may look to consolidate ahead of tomorrow's payrolls reading as investors gauge the health of the U.S. jobs market within the broader macroeconomic picture."
In gold miners, Gold Fields Ltd.(GFI 12.61, +0.08, +0.62%) , the worlds' fourth-biggest gold miner, said Thursday it's gold output rose 4% in the second quarter to 906,000 ounces.
In economic news, first-time claims for state unemployment benefits declined by 38,000 to 550,000 last week, the Labor Department reported. The four-week average of new jobless claims dropped to 555,250, the lowest level since January. See full story.
Investors also awaited Friday's monthly jobs report.
In currency trading, the dollar remained higher against most of its major rivals, rebounding from its lowest level in 10 months. The dollar(DXY 77.10, +0.48, +0.62%) stood at 78.001, up from 77.515 late Wednesday.
Other metals were lower Thursday. September copper fell 8.75 cents, or 3.1%, to $2.726 a pound.
September silver slid 8 cents, or 0.5%, to $14.68 an ounce. October platinum lost $16.10, or 1.3%, to $1,277 an ounce, while September palladium slid $6.10, or 2.2%, to $273.10 an ounce.
This article is published by MarketWacth. The site is sourced below.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment