By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures continued to rise Wednesday as a prolonged standoff in Washington over hiking the U.S. debt ceiling continued.
Gold for August delivery GC1Q +0.35% , the contract with the most volume, rose $5.30, or 0.3% to $1,622.00 an ounce in electronic trading.
The December contract GC1Z +0.35% , which has the most open interest, was at $1,623.90 an ounce, up $4.50, or 0.3%, after earlier rising to a fresh peak of $1,626.90.
On Tuesday, August gold added $4.60, or 0.3%, to end at $1,616.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The December gold contract added $4.90 to $1,619.30 an ounce. Read more on Tuesday's gold and metals trading.
As U.S. lawmakers’ impasse continued, House Speaker John Boehner was rewriting his bill raise the limit before the Aug. 2 deadline. The House may end up voting on the bill on Thursday rather than the initially scheduled Wednesday vote. Read more on Boehner rewriting debt bill.
“The debt ceiling is a tricky issue to trade, in our opinion,” said MF Global analyst Tom Pawlicki.
Gold prices could “remain in a slow drift higher,” adding $3 to $6 an ounce per day until the debt-ceiling issue is resolved, he said — and then potentially fall $20 to $30 an ounce on the day an agreement is reached.
“The best counter to this in our opinion is to shorten trade durations,” Pawlicki told clients in a note.
