US MIDDAY: gold edges up

Gold was up a shade on Thursday, lifting from a five-week low hit in earlier trade, helped by a weaker dollar, Sweden's surprise decision to launch monetary stimulus and heightened uncertainty over Greece's debt. Spot gold fell to its lowest since January 9 at $1,216.45 an ounce before recovering to trade up 0.2 percent at $1,221.56 by 2:34 pm EST (1934 GMT).
US gold for April delivery settled up $1.10 at $1,220.70 an ounce. "The only thing that is pushing up gold a little bit is the lower dollar after the BoJ media report and also the Riksbank's aggressive monetary action," ABN Amro analyst Georgette Boele said. Sweden's Riksbank unexpectedly cut its key repo rate into negative territory and said it would soon buy bonds worth 10 billion Swedish crowns, catching investors off guard and prompting a flight to safety.
Gold lost 1.2 percent on Wednesday when the dollar hit a three-week peak against a basket of major currencies. The greenback fell 1.4 percent versus the yen on Thursday on a media report that the Bank of Japan sees further monetary stimulus as counter-productive. The dollar index fell 0.9 percent, after weaker-than-expected US weekly jobless claims data.
"There is a great deal of uncertainty about the geopolitical and macroeconomic situation and gold continues to react to development but as long as the Federal Reserve remains on course for tightening, the underlying trend is downwards," Macquarie analyst Matthew Turner said. Global shares rose as investors welcomed a cease-fire agreement between Russia and Ukraine and the surprising measures by Sweden's central bank.
Financial markets had been under pressure because euro zone finance ministers were unable to agree with Greece on a final statement or a way to continue talks until their next meeting on Monday to extend an international bailout. "This was definitely a risk-on session with the developments over in Europe with the Ukraine and Greek situation," said Bill O'Neill, partner and co-found of Logic Advisors in New Jersey.
"You could have seen some selling on the elimination of the short-term concerns on those two." Gold is usually seen as an insurance against risk, with demand typically increasing in times of financial and political uncertainty. Silver rose 0.3 percent to $16.81 an ounce. Platinum gained 0.4 percent at $1,195.25 an ounce, while palladium was up 1.1 percent at $773.80 an ounce.