Spot gold prices jumped more than 1 percent on Thursday, with technical buying, a strengthening euro and hopes for a Fed stimulus to the US economy cited as driving a late-morning recovery in bullion, which had declined in early trade. Spot gold was up 1.07 percent at $1,675.14 per oz at 5:00 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), headed for its largest weekly gain in six weeks as investors have grown more risk-averse.
Confidence in the euro zone economy took a knock this week amid concerns mounting about Spain and Italy. Gold futures for June on Comex settled up 1.2 percent at $1,680.60, close to an intraday high of $1,681.3. Bullion, which had risen as high as $1,675.31, was still within its recent trading range. Traders said they expected it to hit resistance around $1,685 per oz.
Spot silver, which has fallen in six of the last seven weeks, was up 2.7 percent at $32.39 an ounce. The gold/silver ratio, which measures the number of ounces of silver needed to buy one ounce of gold, held around 52.5, having risen from closer to 50 a week ago, denoting the outperformance of gold. Platinum rose 1.28 percent on the day to $1,597.24 an ounce, while palladium was up 2.13 percent at $643.97 an ounce.