SINGAPORE: Gold and silver both rose to their highest levels in more than three months on Thursday, shaking off months of lethargy after minutes from the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting fuelled hopes for the swift launch of more bond buying. Economic stimulus is expected to raise the inflation outlook, benefiting gold, which is seen as a hedge against rising prices, while the prospects of economic recovery boosted sentiment across riskier assets. The Fed is likely to deliver another round of monetary stimulus "fairly soon" unless the economy improves considerably, minutes from the central bank's latest meeting suggested. "The Fed's tone is totally different in the minutes from previous comments, and that helped gold break from the previous range and move into a higher price range ahead of the peak consumption season," said Chen Min, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. Spot gold climbed 0.7 percent to $1,665.09 an ounce, its highest since May 1, before easing slightly to $1,662.84 by 0620 GMT. Prices broke above the key 200-day moving average in the previous session for the first time in nearly five months. The U.S. gold futures contract for December delivery gained 1.5 percent to $1,665.70. Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said charts indicated spot gold could retrace to $1,647, after testing the resistance at $1,664. Short-covering and the strength in the euro also helped demand for gold, keeping it on course for its seventh session of gains. Spot silver rallied more than 2 percent to $30.51, its highest since early May. ALL AVAILABLE TOOLS Investors are eyeing meetings between Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and other European leaders as Athens seeks more time to meet its bailout commitments, while China's central bank chief said Beijing must use all available tools to manage monetary policy effectively. Interest in gold is on the rise on speculation of further monetary stimulus globally. Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, continued to rise, hitting a three-month high of 1,281.978 tonnes by Aug. 22. The jump in gold prices excited physical gold traders in Asia, who expected more scrap flow to come in as gold sentiment stayed buoyant. "People did a lot of selling overnight, and we'll probably see more when Indonesia returns next week to the market," said a Singapore-based dealer. But scrap selling was muted in Tokyo as a strong yen makes local gold prices less attractive for sellers, dealers said. Spot platinum rose to around $1,558 an ounce, its highest since May 3, bringing the gold-platinum premium down towards $100 -- its narrowest in more than three months.

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