MW: Gold rises for first day in nine as stocks, crude fall
Gold futures rose Thursday for the first session in nine as crude-oil and U.S. stock prices fell, increasing the metal's investment appeal.
Trading in gold could remain choppy, analysts said, as investors digest European central banks' interest-rate cuts and as fresh data on unemployment claims detailed U.S. job losses. The dollar moved higher against most of its major rivals, playing off rate cuts in Europe.
Gold for April delivery was last up $2.40, or 0.3%, to $909.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract had tumbled about $90 over the past eight straight sessions, the longest losing streak since August.
"Gold will continue to be supported by safe-haven demand on weak economic data," wrote James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. "However with scrap sales continuing to be seen and risk appetite improving the metal will remain vulnerable to further pockets of liquidation."
Gold holdings in SPDR Gold Shares, the largest gold exchange-traded fund, again stood at a record high of 1,029.29 tons on Wednesday, unchanged for a fifth day, according to the latest data from the fund.
SPDR Gold gained 0.5% to $89.40.
Earlier Thursday, the Bank of England cut its key lending rate nearly to zero and announced it would launch an unprecedented program to effectively print money by buying up assets from financial institutions. See full story.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank dropped its key lending rate to the lowest level in its decade-long history as it fights a deepening euro-zone recession.
The dollar rose against the euro and the British pound after the rate cuts. The dollar index which measures the value of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, rose 0.4% to 89.354. See Currencies.
In the U.S., the number of workers filing for state unemployment benefits fell by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 639,000 last week, while the smoothed average of continuing claims moved higher into record territory, government data showed. Also on the data front, productivity in the nonfarm business sector fell at an annual rate of 0.4% in the quarter as output and hours worked both dropped. See full story.
In other metals trading Thursday, March copper fell 0.4% to $1.678 a pound. March silver rose 0.4% to $12.945 an ounce, while April platinum added 1.6% to $1,061 an ounce and the March contract for sister metal palladium was flat at $199.80 an ounce.
Among metals-sector equity benchmarks, Shares of Barrick Gold Corp. rose 1.9% to $28.24 and South Africa's Gold Fields Ltd. gained 2% to $9.94, while Goldcorp Inc. rose 3.3% to $28.79.
The Amex Gold Bugs Index which tracks the share prices of major gold companies, added 1.8% to 276.89.
The iShares Gold Trust ETF gained 0.5% to $89.53, while the iShares Silver Trust ETF added 0.2% to $12.80.
