Spot gold on course for 7th day of gains
Expected data: U.S. jobless claims, weekly; 1230 GMT
Gold and silver both climbed to their highest levels in more than three months on Thursday.
Spot gold rose 0.7 percent to $1,665.09 an ounce, its highest since May 1, before easing slightly to $1,662.84 by 0620 GMT. Prices broke above the key 200-day moving average in the previous session for the first time in nearly five months. The U.S. gold futures contract for December delivery gained 1.5 percent to $1,665.70.
Spot silver advanced more than 2 percent to $30.51, its highest since early May.
Minutes from the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting fueled investors’ hopes for the swift launch of more bond buying.
Economic stimulus is expected to raise the inflation outlook, benefiting gold, which is seen as a hedge against rising prices, while the prospects of economic recovery boosted sentiment across riskier assets.
In the U.S., the Fed is likely to launch another round of monetary stimulus in the near-term unless the economy improves considerably, minutes from the central bank’s latest meeting suggested. That helped gold break from the previous range and move into a higher price range ahead of the peak consumption season.
Technical charts indicated spot gold could retrace to $1,647, after testing the resistance at $1,664. Short-covering and the strength in the euro also helped demand for gold, keeping it on course for its seventh session of gains.
Elsewhere, market participants are eyeing meetings between Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and other European leaders as Athens seeks more time to meet its bailout commitments. In China, the central bank chief said Beijing must use all available tools to manage monetary policy effectively.
Interest in gold is on the rise on speculation of further monetary stimulus globally. Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, continued to rise, hitting a three-month high of 1,281.978 tonnes by Aug. 22.
