• Gold rose on Wednesday as safe-haven demand was buoyed by expectations that geopolitical tensions could persist, although further gains were capped as the dollar recovered slightly amid perception of a brief lull in tensions surrounding North Korea.
• “A lot of people are still seeing gold as a safe haven because we have not heard much in terms of reactions of the different countries to North Korea’s action,” said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore.
Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,313.10 per ounce at 0403 GMT, but was off a more than nine-month peak hit on Tuesday at $1325.94.
• Spot gold is expected to retest a resistance level at $1,326 per ounce, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
• In other precious metals, silver rose 0.6 percent to $17.45 per ounce, but was trading below its more than two-month peak of $17.67 touched on Tuesday.
.png)
• Gold rose to the highest this year after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan, boosting haven demand and extending a rally fueled by declines in the dollar. An index of precious-metals mining stocks touched a four-month high.
• An index of the greenback touched the lowest since January 2015 before paring losses later on Tuesday. Stocks fluctuated as North Korea’s ballistic missile test rattled markets. Palladium extended gains and platinum rose above $1,000 an ounce for the first time since March.
• Gold has surged almost 15 percent this year, rising every month except June, as investors weigh the possibility of conflict in Asia, with Kim Jong Un’s regime pushing on with missile tests and U.S. President Donald Trump vowing a stern response. Prices have also climbed as the Federal Reserve is expected to go slow on further interest-rate increases. Low rates are a boon to non-interest-bearing precious metals.
Odds of a rate hike by year’s end are at about 30 percent, down from more than 50 percent at the beginning of last month, based on fed funds futures.
• Demand for haven assets also rose as Wall Street and Washington braced for the repercussions of Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston, expected to be the costliest U.S. natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
• Harvey “is likely to reduce U.S. GDP in the third quarter,” Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc. in Montreal, said in a report.
Reference: Reuters,Bloomberg
Thai
Eng