By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures climbed in electronic trading Thursday, extending the gains they made late in the previous session, as the metal’s recent declines and weakness in the U.S. dollar attracted buyers.
Gold (GCG11 1,343, +9.70, +0.73%) futures gained $14.20 to $1,347.10 an ounce, a rise of 1.1%. The precious metal staged a late comeback on Wednesday, after spending most of the session near eight-week lows. Read story on gold near eight-week lows.
“The drop in gold prices [was] greeted by resurging physical demand,” noted commodity strategists at Barclays Capital.
“Barring short term weakness, we remain constructive on gold over the course of the year given a number of key long term investment drivers remain intact,” they added.
On Wednesday, the U.S. dollar slipped against the euro after Federal Reserve policy makers agreed to keep interest rates at record-low levels and maintain a $600 billion asset-buying program. Read more on the dollar.
The dollar index (DXY 77.74, -0.16, -0.21%) , which tracks the U.S. unit against a basket of six other currencies, edged down to 77.75 on Thursday from 77.78 in late North American trading Wednesday.
A weaker dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities, including gold, more attractive as they become cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Turning to other metals, copper futures (HGH11 430.90, +4.20, +0.98%) rose 3 cents to $4.30 per pound, silver futures (SIH11 2,757, +43.70, +1.61%) climbed 56 cents to $27.68 an ounce and platinum futures (PLJ11 1,808, +11.20, +0.62%) rose $20.60 to $1,817.50 an ounce.
