LONDON: Gold rose for a seventh day on Thursday after minutes from the US Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting gave an unexpectedly clear signal that the central bank may take additional measures to boost the economy. Platinum gained 1.1 percent, rising for a sixth day to a 3-1/2 month high, lifted by ongoing tension in some of the mines in top producer South Africa, where 44 people have died in clashes between striking workers and police. Gold has more than doubled in value since the Fed first resorted to buying Treasuries to pin down interest rates and encourage growth in late 2008 and this year, has struggled to remain in positive territory in the absence of any clear commitment from the US central bank to resume the practice. The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting at the end of July showed on Wednesday the central bank is likely to deliver another round of stimulus "fairly soon" and that any such decision would be highly dependent on economic data. Analysts said that while the signal that additional stimulus for the US economy was positive for gold in the near term, the most recent read on key indicators such as consumer spending, manufacturing or jobs growth since the Fed's last meeting pointed to a more robust phase of economic growth and as such, gold's gains could be limited. Spot gold was up 0.6 percent at $1,662.81 an ounce by 0917 GMT, having risen by 3 percent so far this week, which has put the price on track for a 3.1 percent gain in August, which would be the largest monthly gain since January's 11 percent increase. "The market should be a bit cautious here and not run too far ahead of itself because we have seen economic data pick up and improve since that last meeting," Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen said. "We do need to see gold's fundamentals supporting the move. There is no doubt we have been stuck in a range for so long, we needed to see some follow-through ... I think gold has another $15 in it or so, we could see $1,680, but I think that would be it," he said. A rise in the euro helped improve demand for gold, ahead of meetings between Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and other European leaders as Athens seeks more time to meet its bailout commitments. CENTRAL BANK EXPECTATIONS Expectations are also running high for some sort of support from the European Central Bank for the more indebted members of the euro zone, such as Spain and Italy, which have seen their borrowing costs on the capital markets to around their highest since the launch of the euro in 1999. Central bank sources told Reuters the ECB is considering setting a yield target on purchases under a new bond buying programme, without making the levels public. Gold priced in euros rose for a seventh day by 0.4 percent to 1,325.41 euros an ounce and is now less than 4 percent below last September's record of 1,373.92 euros. "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.

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