Gold rose on Wednesday on growing hopes the US Federal Reserve may do more to stimulate the world's top economy, a move which would boost bullion's appeal as a hedge against inflation. Spot gold rose $4.09 an ounce to $1,620.69 an ounce by 0612 GMT. Gold jumped to its highest level in 2012 of around $1,790 in February after the Fed at the time said it would keep interest rates near zero until the end of 2014 at the earliest.
US gold futures for August delivery fell $1.40 an ounce to $1,621.80. Volumes were at around 8,000 lots, compared with more than 120,000 lots at the close on Tuesday.