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BULLION LATEST 12/10: Gold rallies on weaker dollar and geopolitical concerns

The gold price rose during Asian morning trading on Thursday October 12 as the dollar weakened after the release of relatively dovish minutes by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday and on continued concerns over the high level of tension between the USA and North Korea.

October 12, 2017
By Anna Xu

The spot gold price was quoted at $1294.20-1294.50 per oz, up by $2.05 as of 04:38 BST today. Trade has ranged in the $1291.45-1295.48 band so far today.

“Many participants thought that another increase in the target range later this year was likely to be warranted if the medium-term outlook remained broadly unchanged,” minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in September released on Wednesday October 11 said.

The market took the comment as a slightly dovish signal, causing the dollar to weaken and investors’ appetite for precious metals to rise.

The dollar index declined a further 0.14% to 92.85 as of 5:05 BST today from above 93.5 on Wednesday.

Investors’ concerns over escalating tensions between the USA and North Korea remain high after news emerged on October 9 that North Korea may be about to test a new long-range missile capable of reaching the west coast of the USA, which led further to safe haven demand for the yellow metal.

Silver, PGMs

  • In the other precious metals, the spot silver price was up by $0.030 to $17.163-17.225 per oz.
  • Platinum was $3 higher at $932.5-935 per oz, while palladium stabilized at $959.5-$963 per oz.
  • The SHFE December gold price was up 0.40% to 277.2 yuan ($42.1) per gram, and the most active SHFE December silver was quoted at 3,906 yuan per kg, up by 0.36% from the previous session’s close.

Currency moves and data releases

  • The dollar index has declined 0.14% to 92.85 so far today.
  • In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price was down 0.12% to $56.59 per barrel, and the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price decreased 0.03% to $51.02.
  • In equities, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.17% to 3,382.49.
  • In data today, we have US weekly jobless claims and September’s producer price index , as well as EU industrial production figures for August.
  • In addition, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and US Federal Open Market Committee members Lael Brainard and Jerome Powell are speaking.