Gold rose to within a whisker of its 2012 high early on Friday as technical momentum and recent stimulus efforts by major central banks around the world prompted bullion investors to boost their bullish bets. Gold priced in euro terms hit a record high, but gains were later pared by profit taking. The metal is still on track for its fifth consecutive weekly rise.
A positive "golden cross" formed on technical charts and a bullish call by well-known hedge fund manager Ray Dalio to own gold further fed market sentiment for bullion. Traders said that heavy buying of call options at high strike prices could further boost the metal's price as open interest in US gold futures hit a one-year high for a second straight day.
"There are a lot of hedge funds that bought call options a week or two ago. There have been big buyers after the Fed has committed to the magnetisation of debt," said Jeffrey Sherman, commodity portfolio manager at DoubleLine Capital LP which manages $45 billion in assets. Investors have been aggressively buying short-dated call options with the $2,000 an ounce strike price, Sherman said.
Spot gold was up 0.6 percent at $1,777.19 an ounce by 1:11 pm EDT (1711 GMT) after hitting a high of $1,787.20, within reach of the 2012 high of $1,790.30. US COMEX gold futures for December delivery gained $9.70 to $1,779.90 an ounce, with trading volume on track to finish above its 250-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.
COMEX futures' open interest, which measures the total outstanding long and short contracts, rose to a one-year high at 483,107 lots as of Thursday. Open interest of US gold futures has gained about 25 percent in the past 30 days. New longs, or investors who recent bought futures at higher prices, could lead to a spike in volatility if they opt to abandon their losing bets in a gold pullback, trader said. Next Tuesday's COMEX October expiration also increased choppiness. Earlier this week, gold's 50-day moving average (DMA) broke above its 200 DMA, which marked a golden cross in technical analysis, indicating bullion's intermediate and longer-term momentum is getting increasingly bullish.
The previous long-lasting golden cross on bullion charts was formed on February 6, 2009, and gold prices had surged 11 percent in the following 11 sessions. Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio said that investors should benefit from gold ownership as a hedge against the adverse effects of money printing by central banks. Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.3 percent at $34.68 an ounce. Platinum climbed 0.9 percent to $1,635.24 an ounce, while palladium rose 1.4 percent to $669.25.
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