BLBG:Gold Rises to 29-Week High on Stimulus by Central Banks
Gold futures rose to 29-week high on speculation that steps by central banks to bolster economic growth will spur demand for the metal as a store of value.
The Bank of Japan (8301) said today that it will add 10 trillion yen ($127 billion) to a fund that buys assets. On Sept. 13, the Federal Reserve announced a third round of U.S. monetary stimulus. This month, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi gave details on a plan to buy debt of member states, while China approved infrastructure spending.
“Gold likes the announcement out of Japan,” Frank Lesh, a trader at FuturePath Trading in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “People are concerned that this wave of global easing will stoke inflation.”
On the Comex in New York, gold futures for December delivery climbed 50 cents to settle at $1,771.70 an ounce at 1:45 p.m. Earlier, the price reached $1,781.80, the highest for a most-active contract since Feb. 29. The metal has gained 13 percent this year.
Silver futures for December delivery fell 0.4 percent to $34.588 an ounce.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, platinum futures for October delivery increased 0.3 percent to $1,640.40 an ounce.
Police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a crowd near mines in South Africa owned by Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS), the world’s largest producer.
Yesterday, some workers at Lonmin Plc (LMI)’s Marikana mine ended a six-week strike that left at least 45 people dead. Platinum prices jumped 22 percent from Aug. 10, the start of the strike, to Sept. 14.
Palladium futures for December delivery rose 0.9 percent to $673.05 an ounce on the Nymex.
To contact the reporters on this story: Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net; Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net
