LONDON—The spot price of gold edged higher ahead of a much-anticipated press conference by European Central Bank officials.
Spot gold recently was $3, or 0.2%, higher at $1,389.60 a troy ounce. A London trader said the yellow metal is consolidating gains from recent sessions, having moved up more than 2% since the start of the week to record a three-week intraday high Wednesday.
The markets have been rife with speculation that the ECB may signal that the bank is willing to extend its bond-purchase program, which would likely boost demand for gold as an alternative currency. The central bank, as expected, left interest rates unchanged.
The trader said the markets are also keenly awaiting Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for indications on the labor market recovery, which may provide fresh price direction if the numbers surprise either way.
Among other precious metals, silver was up six cents, or 0.2%, at $28.48 an ounce, platinum was up $21, or 1.2%, at $1,706 an ounce and palladium was upi $5, or 0.7%, at $737 an ounce.
