US MIDDAY: gold soars

Gold jumped 2 percent early on Wednesday, rising well above $1,200 an ounce to a five-week high as the dollar hit a three-month low after disappointing US employment data. US retail sales were also unchanged in April as households cut back on purchases of automobiles and other big-ticket items, suggesting the economy was struggling to make a strong rebound after barely growing in the first quarter.
Spot gold hit a five-week high of $1,218.80 an ounce after the US data pushed prices through the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, attracting additional technical buying. The spot market was trading up 1.8 percent at $1,214.60 an ounce by 2:38 pm EDT (1838 GMT). The US June futures contract settled up 2.2 percent at $1,218.20 an ounce.
The metal added to Tuesday's one percent gains, when it benefited from the softer dollar and volatility in global bond markets. "A close above technical resistance at $1,215 could help gold exiting the narrow trading range between $1,175 and $1,225 the metal has been confined over the past ten weeks," ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto de Casa said.
"The dollar's weakening has been instrumental to the latest move higher and of course the view that the Fed is less likely to raise interest rates next month after weak economic data." The dollar fell 1 percent against a basket of leading currencies, after the US jobs data that helped push back expectations of when the Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates. Fed officials provided no clarity on Tuesday on when the US central bank would raise interest rates. Interest rates at rock-bottom levels have benefited gold since the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
"The question facing gold is will bullion derive more upwards thrust from a weaker dollar or will rising yields sap and possibly reverse the rally?" HSBC said in a note. Silver climbed 3.4 percent to a five-week high of $17.11 an ounce, while platinum rose 1 percent to $1,143.35 an ounce. "There is a renewed risk of strike action at South Africa's platinum mines as companies are forced to restructure, leading to job cuts," said Capital Economics in a note. "We estimate that on average the price of platinum has increased by 20 percent during the past eight disruptive episodes in South Africa, including social tensions, power shortages or shafts closures."
Spot palladium was up 0.5 percent at $786 an ounce.