Gold rebounded on Friday after worse-than-expected US retail sales figures, but trading was rangebound ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Washington. Spot gold rose to $750.80 an ounce, reversing an earlier decline, before trading at $744.15/746.50 an ounce at 1527 GMT, from $734.30 an ounce in New York late on Thursday.
US gold futures for December delivery rallied $39.80 to $744.80 on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Gold jumped after the start of COMEX trading," said Tom Kendall, precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi Corp. "It was very quiet ahead of the US rally and people are waiting to see if anything positive will come out of the G20 meeting."
New York gold futures rose as disappointing US retail sales data triggered heavy buy-stops by bolstering gold's appeal as an alternative investment. "After the dip yesterday and late US trading we are back where we started the week really," said Kendall.
Gold rebounded from earlier lows, which were a result of lower oil prices and a stronger dollar, but trading is rangebound ahead of the weekend summit of industrialised and emerging nations on the global financial crisis. However the dollar eased off from gains against the euro following an unexpected rise in US consumer confidence.
The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its index of confidence edged up to 57.9 in November from 57.6 in October. The index came in above economists' expectations of 56.0, according to the median of forecasts in a Reuters poll. However, dealers said they expected steady physical buying from India, the world's main gold consumer, would also aid prices during the traditional wedding season, which runs until early 2009.
Platinum traded at $835.00/855.00 from 821.50 an ounce. Prices of the metal used to make autocatalysts have plunged about 64 percent since a record high of $2,290 hit in March. Johnson Matthey, the world's top platinum refiner and fabricator, will release its keenly awaited interim review on Tuesday. "Johnson Matthey has the potential to influence the price of platinum and palladium in the sort term," said Kendall. Palladium was at $213.00/221.00 from $210.00 on Thursday and silver at $9.55/9.63 from $9.38.
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