On Wednesday gold traded below a three-week high after
sinking oil prices and equities spurred the longest run of daily
gains since October as investors were expecting minutes of the Federal
Reserve’s last meeting for guidance on U.S. monetary policy.
Gold for February delivery dipped 0.4 percent to $1,214.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York and traded at $1,214.92 at 12:56 p.m. in Singapore, after futures climbed yesterday to $1,223.30, the highest price since Dec. 16 on oil’s rout and concern Greece may drop the euro.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index headed for the highest close on record before today’s release of the minutes of the Dec. 16-17 meeting, when the bank said it will be “patient” when considering the timing of the first rate increase since 2006. The minutes precede data due Jan. 9 on U.S. payrolls for last month, which are expected to show employers added 200,000 or more jobs for an 11th month, according to a Bloomberg survey. Monthly gains averaged almost 241,000 from January through November, up from the prior year’s 194,000. The 2.7 million workers added to payrolls are the most since 1999.
Gold priced in euros rose to the highest since September 2013 before inflation data that may prompt the European Central Bank to start buying sovereign debt. Global shares lost 3.2 percent this year as crude oil tumbled to the lowest since 2009.
“Gold continues to benefit from risk aversion,” said Zou Lihu, an analyst at Citics Futures Co. in Shenzhen, a unit of China’s biggest listed brokerage. “Gold has moved higher despite the dollar’s strength and while buying interest has been good, the Fed minutes may impede the rally.”
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange-traded product backed by bullion, fell yesterday to the lowest level since September 2008, after expanding on Jan. 5 for the first time in two weeks.
Silver for immediate delivery dropped 0.5 percent to $16.4598 an ounce, after prices advanced yesterday for a third day, rising to $16.7091, the highest level since Dec. 15.
Spot platinum traded at $1,219.63 an ounce from $1,219.44 yesterday. Palladium was little changed at $803.45 an ounce.
