BLBG:Gold Advances to Highest in Eight Weeks as Global Manufacturing Improves
Gold advanced to the highest level in eight weeks, gaining alongside equities, as manufacturing improved across the world, boosting the global growth outlook.
Spot gold rallied as much as 0.6 percent to $1,753.20 an ounce, the most expensive since Dec. 8, and traded at $1,752.05 at 4:45 p.m. in Singapore. Gold holdings in exchange-traded products rose 0.2 percent yesterday to 2,376.205 metric tons, the highest level since Dec. 16 and within about 0.7 percent of the Dec. 13 record, according to data tracked by Bloomberg.
“The underlying bid tone in the gold market suggests that another leg higher is only a matter of time,” Edel Tully, an analyst at UBS AG in London, wrote today in a report. “ETF investors remain keen to add to their exposure.”
Manufacturing grew from the U.S. to India and China, fueling optimism the global recovery is weathering the debt crisis in Europe and driving a rebound in stocks. India and China are the world’s largest bullion consumers.
Bullion for April delivery gained 0.3 percent to $1,754.20 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Spot gold’s so-called 14-day relative-strength index was at 72.02 today, above the level of 70 that may indicate an imminent retreat in prices.
China Gold
Immediate-delivery gold of 99.99 percent purity, on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, China’s largest physical gold market, reached 355.84 yuan a gram ($1,756.03 an ounce), the highest price since Dec. 9. Volumes for the benchmark cash contract totaled 2,640.20 kilograms (84,884 ounces) yesterday, down from 5,636 kilograms on Jan. 31.
The dollar was little changed against a basket of six major counterparts before data that economists said will show fewer Americans filed for jobless benefits and as the MSCI All-Country World Index of stocks climbed to the highest in almost six months.
Silver for immediate delivery fell 0.2 percent to $33.6087 an ounce. Cash platinum climbed as much as 0.6 percent to $1,627.75 an ounce, before trading at $1,620.75 an ounce. Spot palladium advanced as much as 0.4 percent to $699.63 an ounce, and was last at $696.75 an ounce.
To contact the reporter for this story: Glenys Sim at gsim4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
