Precious metals moved higher in Europe on Monday afternoon, with gold regaining $400.00 an ounce on a weaker dollar, while fund buying lifted platinum to a four-month peak, traders said.
The dollar sagged again versus the euro in early afternoon trading, while gold was also underpinned by high oil prices and geopolitical concerns after three planes flying to Frankfurt on Sunday were grounded due to bomb threats. "All the recent US economic numbers have been dollar-negative, so given the usual inverse relationship gold has with it (dollar), we've nudged back above $400.00," a trader said.
Figures released on Friday showed the US trade deficit widened to a record $55.8 billion in June due to the biggest drop in exports in nearly three years. Disappointing consumer sentiment data also cast doubt on the strength of the US economy.
By 1420 GMT, spot gold was at $402.00/402.50 a troy ounce from $398.65/399.15 at Friday's close in New York.
Oil prices rose to fresh record highs near $47 a barrel on uncertainty over the results of a referendum in Venezuela. Combined with the string of sluggish US economic data, this sent the dollar to a four-week low against the euro.
Analyst Andreas Maag at UBS said the metal was drifting between an upper range of $396-$402 and a lower band of $392-$396, waiting for a major trigger.
Platinum rose over three percent, with investment fund buying lifting the metal to its highest fixing for four months.
The metal was fixed at $885.00 an ounce, up from the Friday afternoon fixing of $857.00.
Spot platinum was at $881.00/886.00 from $861.00/866.00 in New York.
Elsewhere, silver rose to $6.69/6.72 against $6.59/6.62, while palladium nudged up to $212.00/217.00 from $209.00/213.00 in the US market.
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