Gold moved narrowly on Wednesday, partially recouping losses from the previous day when investors sold as prices failed again to break $600 an ounce. Traders said bullion would look mainly to oil and to a lesser extent the dollar for near-term direction, but again noted that large investors were showing little interest in the market.
Physical buying in Asia overnight helped prop up gold after it had slid nearly 2 percent in Europe late on Tuesday after a fall in crude oil prices. Spot gold rose to $592.90/593.05 a troy ounce by 1335 GMT from $590.30/591.30 late in New York. It hit an high for the day of $595 in early European business.
Gold hit a two-week peak of $597.50 on Tuesday, just below the key barrier of $600, before dropping as low as $585. "We ascribe this move to a lack of interest in gold from leveraged investors and actively trading private clients," John Reade, metals analyst at UBS, said in a daily client note.
He, like many analysts and traders, expected gold to attract physical support around $560/570 but said it still lacked the impetus to breach a series of key levels between $598 and $605.
"There's too much wood at $600 for the market to break through with its current impetus," a London trader said. "It is going to struggle to push through at this point." Dealers in Singapore noted buying interest from Indonesia, but saw no signs of active restocking. Traders in Europe also reported physical buying into dips.
"As the price drops down into the 80s ($580s) it seems to be gathering support down there," the London dealer said.
Crude oil fell back below $59 a barrel as dealers weighed an expected rise in robust US crude oil stocks against an Opec meeting that is likely to seal a deal to cut output. Ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet in Qatar on Thursday to clear a deal to remove 1 million barrels from daily output to try to stem oil's drop from a high of $78.40 in July.
Any move higher (or lower) in oil prices would certainly affect gold given its relatively high correlation with crude at present. Bullion took little notice of US inflation data for September and held its gains despite a stronger dollar.
This key measure of US inflation was reported in line with expectations, while US housing starts rose unexpectedly.
Gold tends to move in an inverse direction to the dollar. Gold's modest overnight recovery filtered through into other precious metals. Platinum rose to $1,083/1,088 an ounce from $1,067/1,071 previously. Palladium rose to $322/327 an ounce from $315/320 in New York. On Tuesday, the metal hit $324, its highest since mid-September. Silver firmed to $11.83/11.89 an ounce from $11.68/11.75 late in New York but traded below Tuesday's five-week high of $11.90.