SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : Gold prices advanced in Asian trade Thursday mainly after the dollar eased while Fed moves to boost US economy also helped the yellow metal.
Spot gold was seen trading at $1345.81 an ounce at 1.00 p.m Singapore time while February-delivery contract rose as much as 1.1 percent to $1,349 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
The precious metal staged a late comeback on Wednesday, after spending most of the session near eight-week lows.
The Fed kept its benchmark interest rate at zero percent to 0.25 percent, and also maintained plans to buy $600 billion of Treasuries through June. The statement spurred spot gold’s biggest percentage gain this year yesterday, paring a monthly loss that’s been driven by speculation haven demand is waning.
The dollar fell against the euro after successful debt sales in Europe continued to push the euro higher.
The greenback showed little movement after the Federal Reserve released a statement Wednesday that there would be no change in interest rates or its $600 billion bond-buying program, said Joseph Trevisani, chief market analyst at FXSolutions.
Silver for immediate delivery was little changed at $27.7025 an ounce. Silver holdings in ETPs lost 0.3 percent to 14,626.35 tons as of Wednesday.
Spot palladium was also little changed at $814.55 an ounce, and immediate-delivery platinum dropped 0.2 percent to $1,809 an ounce.
On Wednesday, Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday closed higher thanks to a late-session rebound, as bargain hunters entered into the market following a sharp decline in the gold price.
The most active gold contract for February delivery gained 0.7 dollars per ounce, or 0.05 percent, to settle at $1,333 .
Gold gained about 30 percent in 2010, touching a record $1,431.25 an ounce last month, as investors purchased bullion to hedge against weaker currencies after trillions of dollars were pumped in the economies in the U.S. and European as stimulus.
