Gold surged above $1,650 an ounce on Wednesday for the first time since early May, breaking above its recent trading range as minutes from the US Federal Reserve convinced many bullion investors that another round of monetary stimulus is imminent. Another precious metal, platinum, rallied for a fifth straight day, rising to a 3-1/2 month high on supply fears due to signs of spreading labour unrest in top producer South Africa.
Bullion prices rallied for a sixth straight day, rising above technical resistance of the 150-day and 200-day moving averages. Gold pierced the top end of a near four-month trading range at $1,640 an ounce. Spot gold was up 1 percent on the day at $1,654.10 an ounce by 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) after hitting a session high of $1,655.50, the highest price since May 2. Before the Fed released its minutes, US gold futures for December delivery settled down $2.40 at $1,640.50 an ounce.
Trading volume around 3:30 p.m. was around 130,000 lots, sharply below its 30-day and 250-day averages, preliminary Reuters data showed. Year to date, gold is up around 6 percent. In early January, gold was up almost 15 percent after the Federal Reserve said it could unveil more stimulus and expected to keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014. Platinum rose 2.2 percent to $1,533.24 an ounce, and palladium climbed 1.7 percent to $630.47, while silver climbed 1.6 percent to $29.79 an ounce.
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