BLBG: Gold Climbs on Haven Buying, Speculation of Interest Rate Cuts
By Feiwen Rong
Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Gold advanced for a second day on haven buying and as Australia's bigger-than-expected interest- rate cut spurred speculation central banks will reduce borrowing costs to shield economies from the credit freeze.
Asian shares pared losses, the yen retreated and Treasuries fell after Australia lowered its key rate by one percentage point. Global shares plunged yesterday, erasing more than $2 trillion in market value, and crude oil dropped below $90 a barrel for the first time since February, on concern the lending crunch would worsen the global slowdown.
``Investors turned to gold as a store of value and safe haven as they become concerned about the global economic outlook,'' Wang Xinyou, senior analyst at Agricultural Bank of China, said by phone from Beijing today. ``Nothing seems to be safe in the tumultuous financial markets, except perhaps gold.''
Bullion for immediate delivery advanced 1.5 percent to $872.46 an ounce at 3:53 p.m. Singapore time. Silver for immediate delivery gained 4.8 percent to $11.57 an ounce.
``We've seen an enormous rise in the value of the U.S. dollar in the last month or so,'' said Peter McGuire, Commodity Warrants Australia Ltd., in a Bloomberg Television interview. ``If the U.S. dollar starts to stabilize, gold will take off again, but at the moment it's a little bit range-bound.''
Gold may reach ``north of $950'' an ounce ``if the recession starts to bite in 2009,'' he added.
The dollar traded at $1.3590 against the European currency today after reaching a 14-month high yesterday at $1.3444.
December-delivery gold gained 0.9 percent to $873.70 an ounce in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold for December delivery traded in Shanghai rose 3.7 percent to 191.25 yuan a gram ($870 an ounce). Gold for August delivery jumped 3.5 percent to 2,839 yen a gram ($858 an ounce) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 3:20 p.m. local time.
To contact the reporter on this story: Feiwen Rong in Singapore at frong2@bloomberg.net
