By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) – Gold futures advanced in electronic trading on Monday after Friday’s euro-zone debt downgrades by Standard & Poor’s focused investor attention back on Europe’s debt crisis.
Gold for February delivery GC2G +0.56% traded at $1,640.40 an ounce at midday in East Asia, compared to its previous U.S. settlement of $1,630.80 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold futures ended 1% lower on Friday in the U.S. session but were still up 0.9% for the week.
Societe Generale analysts said the downgrades had been expected and would do little to alter its outlook for the euro zone where it expects zero growth this year.
The French bank said market attention would focus on upcoming European Union summits scheduled for January 30 and another in early March.
“The trigger for the [S&P] downgrade, was the failure of euro area policy makers to deliver a sufficient solution to date,” SocGen analysts said in a note Sunday, adding that there would be little margin for failure in upcoming talks.
Chris Oliver is MarketWatch's Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong.
