By Claudia Assis and V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold and silver futures rebounded Thursday after investors bought into metals beaten down in the previous session on dashed expectations of further U.S. monetary stimulus.
Gold for June delivery GCM2 +0.96% climbed $15, or 0.9%, to $1,629.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
May silver SIK2 +1.68% gained 58 cents, or 1.9%, to $31.62 per ounce.
Gold stumbled $57.90, or 3.5%, on Wednesday, ending at its lowest since Jan. 9, while silver sank 6.7%, closing at the lowest since mid-January.
The losses followed market disappointment that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to launch a third round of liquidity-boosting asset purchases.
Thursday’s gains, however, also came as some analysts said the Fed’s policy remains accommodative enough to support gold prices, even in the absence of further easing.
“Policy is already ultra-accommodative by conventional monetary standards and therefore gold-friendly. This may be overlooked or underestimated in the current selloff, we believe,” HSBC analyst James Steel wrote in a report.
“Although gold prices may soon bottom if macro hedge funds or other investors sense that the market is becoming oversold, we believe that bullion prices rebound only on emerging-market demand or fresh official-sector buying. A gold price drop below $1,600/ounce could attract such buying,” he said.
The broader suite of metals tracked gold and silver higher.
July platinum PLN2 +0.21% advanced $2.60, or 0.2%, to $1,601.10 an ounce. June palladium PAM2 +0.73% added $4.70, or 0.6%, to $636.30 an ounce.
May copper HGK2 +0.49% rose 2 cents, or 0.2%, at $3.81 a pound.
Metals’ gains were capped, however, by a rising dollar and lower U.S. equities.
The U.S. dollar index DXY +0.42% had traded slightly lower earlier, but regained strength as the day progressed. The index, which compares the U.S. unit to a basket of six currencies, recently stood at 80.075, up from 79.764 lateWednesday and as the euro weakened amid renewed euro-zone debt worries. Read Currencies report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.05% was off 29 points at 13,046.
