Gold futures pushed higher in early electronic trade on Thursday. The Federal Reserve’s surprise move on Wednesday promising to keep the cash flowing into the U.S. economy triggered a broader-market buying blitz.
December gold added $56.70, or 4.3%, to $1,364.30 an ounce. Silver performs even better, shooting up $1.63, or 7.6%, to $23.20 an ounce. Underpinning the gold buying, the dollar dropped to its lowest level since early this year.
On Wednesday, in regular-session trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold remained in a slump, settling down fractionally at $1,307.60 an ounce before catching fire in electronic trading thanks to the Federal Reserve’s announcement to maintain the pace of its bond buying program.
Else where, markets across Asia also jumped higher on Thursday, with Australian stocks hitting a five-year high and Japan rising to near bull-market territory.
The Federal Reserve’s decision to keep up its bond-buying spree is a green light for global investors, after fears of a change in U.S. monetary policy resulted in a volatile summer for Asia, with a sell-off slamming Southeast Asian markets especially. Investors have paid careful attention to U.S. economic data to see whether the world’s largest economy was strong enough for a reduction in bond-buying.
Thursday’s gains cemented strong gains for September, with a number of markets already notching up substantial returns for the month.
