GN: Gold rises in London for first time in three days
Gold rose for the first time in three days in London as the US unemployment rate climbed to the highest since 1994, increasing the appeal of the metal as a haven against deepening economic gloom.
Gold also gained as the dollar weakened. Employers cut 240,000 workers last month, after 284,000 in September, the biggest two-month slump since 2001, the US Labour Department said. The jobless rate leapt to 6.5 per cent.
"Concerns regarding the global financial system and economy" are boosting bullion, Mark O'Byrne, managing director of brokerage Gold and Silver Investments Ltd. in Dublin, wrote in a note. Bullion may reach "$800 (Dh2,938) an ounce in coming days as safe haven buying reemerges."
The metal for immediate delivery advanced as much as $12.04, or 1.6 per cent, to $744.89 an ounce and traded at $736.03 by 2.46 pm in London. December futures gained $3.30 to $735.50 an ounce in electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The dollar fell against the euro and British pound following the US jobs report and as traders bet the Federal Reserve will cut borrowing costs to 0.5 per cent on December 16, compared with the European Central Bank's current benchmark rate of 3.25 per cent.
Gold is also heading for its first weekly gain in a month, climbing 2.3 per cent in the past five days. The metal fell to $742 in the morning "fixing" in London used by some mining companies to sell production, from $754.50 at the previous afternoon fixing.
The metal has dropped 29 per cent since touching a record $1,032.70 an ounce in March.
Gold in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, added 36 metric tons in October. The fund held steady at 749.2 tons on Thursday, according to figures posted on the company's web site.
Other metals
Silver climbed 0.7 per cent to $10.05 an ounce. Futures in silver may rise in the next six months to near the record $21.44 an ounce set in March as investors seek out the metal as a haven, according to New York-based commodity adviser CPM Group.
Among other metals for immediate delivery, platinum jumped $18, or 2.2 per cent, to $854.50 and palladium was $5, or 2.3 per cent, higher at $225.75 an ounce.
Anglo Platinum Ltd., the world's biggest platinum producer, said it is still supplying customers from its Polokwane smelter in South Africa after an accident on November 5.
