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 p.m. 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. 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.
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