Gold steadied on Wednesday ahead of a raft of U.S. data due later, having earlier risen to four-week highs as a retreat in the dollar and concerns over the medium-term inflation outlook helped support the precious metal.
African Barrick Gold Plc reported higher-than-expected earnings in its first full-year results since listing, as strong gold prices outweighed a decline in production and lifted its shares.
The debts assumed by the Western democracies will overwhelm their economies and lead to the end of our current Dollar-denominated, global currency regime. This has profound implications for Americans' standard of living and our empire's role in the world.
Gold rose above $1,360 an ounce on Monday on fears that Egypt's unrest could spread across the Arab world, while silver gained 2 percent on strong industrial demand driven by signs of an improving economy.
Gold rose above $1,360 an ounce on Monday as the dollar's retreat from highs versus the euro took some pressure off prices, with a second consecutive weekly price rise underpinning investors' confidence in the metal.
Gold prices eased a touch on Friday, pressured by gains in the dollar and softer investment demand for the metal after a raft of well-received economic data boosted interest in other assets.
World stock markets fell hard on Thursday, with Hong Kong shares losing 2% and London's FTSE100 dropping 0.9% by lunchtime. Indian stock markets have lost more than $20 million per minute so far in 2011, the Economic Times reports, with billionaire Anil Ambani blaming vicious and illegal rumors.
Gold was little changed on Wednesday as the market was underpinned by a dollar drop and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment that he had no plans to scrap a massive bond-buying program, indicating interest rates will not rise any time soon.
Gold held close to the previous session's near three-week high in Europe on Wednesday, supported by an increased focus on inflation after China's second interest rate hike in six weeks.
World stocks and oil prices ebbed from recent highs on Tuesday after China raised interest rates for the second time in just over a month, spurring worries of the hike's impact on global economic demand.
Gold prices inched up on Monday, underpinned by inflation concerns, but a more optimistic economic outlook and worries about interest rate hikes kept bullion from rising further.
Physical delivery times for wholesale Silver Bars in London – heart of the world's physical bullion markets – have improved. But major dealers continue to offer three-day settlement or longer, compared with the more normal two-day terms.
Harmony, the world's fifth-largest listed gold miner, said October-December headline earnings per share totaled 69 cents, compared with 33 cents in the previous three months, boosted by record gold prices and said it was on track to meet its long-term production targets.
Gold held near $1,350 an ounce on Monday after the metal's first weekly rise this year supported investor confidence in the metal, though a more optimistic view of the global economic outlook is continuing to weigh on prices.
South Africa's Harmony Gold more than doubled its second-quarter earnings on Monday, boosted by record gold prices and said it was on track to meet its long-term production targets.
The price of gold is at a critical juncture. What happens in the next couple of weeks can determine whether the metal's spectacular rally will continue or fade.
Dollar Gold and Silver Prices were little changed in London trade on Friday, unmoved by unexpectedly weak US jobs data near two- and 3-week highs respectively.
Gold rose over 1 percent in choppy trade on Thursday, with a sudden jump by over $20 per ounce within minutes as large buy orders were apparently triggered in the future markets. This comes unexpected to precious metals experts, as the gold price was supposed to be kept low by the usual large Wall Street players during todays speech by Bernanke, and was set to rally on Friday, when unexpectedly bad labor market numbers will come in and drive gold prices higher.
Spot gold was bid at $1,328.05 an ounce at 1300 GMT, against $1,336.00 late in New York on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for April delivery fell $3.90 to $1,328.20. Concerns over the fallout from unrest in Egypt, where six people were killed after supporters of president Hosni Mubarak opened fire on protestors overnight, have underpinned prices, but have not sparked fresh investment, analysts said.
Gold prices eased a touch in Europe on Wednesday after well received U.S. economic data and a spate of upbeat corporate earnings deflected interest away from bullion on to higher-risk, higher-yielding assets.
U.S. stocks rose on Monday on strong earnings and merger activity, overshadowing concerns about the possible spread of unrest in Egypt which had caused a sharp selloff in world stocks on Friday.
[Gold] buying continued on fears the unrest in Egypt will spread across the Middle East, says Richcomm Global Services in Dubai. But Asia's gold market is less sensitive to what happened in Middle East compared to New York, said a Hong Kong dealer in a note this morning.
