Gold prices held steady in Asia on Friday on light bargain-hunting, but trade was thin ahead of US inflation data that could set direction for the US dollar and bullion.
Spot bullion was at $471.25/472.00 an ounce, up slightly from $470.90/471.70 in late New York trade on Thursday. On Wednesday gold rose in Europe as high as $480.25, the highest since January 1988.
"It's a little bit of sporadic trading," a trader said, adding that there was bargain-hunting in Asia after another fall in bullion prices on profit-taking overnight.
He said the bullion market was waiting for the US consumer price index (CPI) for September due, which could reinforce expectations the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates.
"For next week we could easily trade to $465 on the downside and probably to $476 on the upside," he said. "It should consolidate around here."
Economists polled by Reuters have, on average, forecast a 0.9 percent rise in the September CPI compared with a 0.5 percent increase in August.
Excluding the volatile food and energy items, it was seen up 0.2 percent versus a 0.1 percent rise the previous month. Gold was seen hovering around current levels for some time as investors booked profits, but market players said gold would again attempt a rally after a pause as inflation worries continued and physical demand was giving support.
"Any time you get a big move, you are going to have a period of consolidation," another trader said, putting the short-term and medium-term target for gold at $500.
In Japan, gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange were down following overnight losses in the spot bullion market. The benchmark August contract was down 13 yen from Thursday's close to 1,742 yen per gram.
On Wednesday, the contract ended at 1,771, the highest since June 1991. The dollar was flat after a weeklong rally to a two-year high against the yen as the market bet on higher US interest rates.
A strong dollar generally makes dollar-priced gold expensive for holders of other currencies and lowers demand. Oil dropped below $63 a barrel, a day after falling more than $1 following a US government report that showed high prices had cut gasoline demand in the world's biggest consumer by more than 2 percent compared with last year.
In other precious metals, spot silver was at $7.69/7.72 versus $7.67/7.70 last quoted in New York. Platinum rose to $933/937 versus $928/932, while palladium was at $206/210 against $207/211 an ounce.
On Thursday spot platinum, a precious metal used mainly in jewellery and to clean car exhaust fumes, rose to $943, the highest level since March 1980.
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