Hovering at 7-month highs

Source from (Business Times): http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/goldsept18/Article/

Published: September 18, 2012

LONDON: Gold held around seven-month highs yesterday, having posted a fourth successive weekly gain last week, after the Federal Reserve's pledge to keep interest rates low undermined the US dollar and encouraged investor appetite for bullion.

Spot gold was steady on the day at US$1,767.79 an ounce by 1134 GMT, having risen by nearly two per cent last week in the longest stretch of weekly gains in more than a year.

The US Fed said last week it would keep rates near zero until the middle of 2015, building on its existing vow to maintain them at this level until late 2014, triggering a two per cent rise in the gold price in one day.

The central bank also committed to US$40 billion (RM158 billion) in monthly purchases of mortgage-backed securities as long as job growth was sluggish to keep borrowing rates low for homebuyers and keep credit flowing through the financial system.

"The market has to consolidate the gains it has made since the end of August. That has been already a significant move upwards for the various precious metals, so if we do not see US$1,800 (in gold) this week, that would not be a problem as, nevertheless, the signs are that precious metals prices are moving higher," Peter Fertig, a consultant for Quantitative Commodity Research, said.

Gold has risen by 13.2 per cent so far in 2012, putting it on course for an eleventh yearly price increase.

"At around US$1,770 a troy ounce, gold is trading close to the 61/2 month high it reached on Friday. It is not only ETF investors who have been contributing to the rising prices ... but increasingly also speculative financial investors," Commerzbank analysts wrote in a note.

Platinum fell by 0.2 per cent on the day to US$1,691.99an ounce, having gained in ten of the prior eleven trading sessions.

Aquarius Platinum's Kroondal platinum mine and Xstrata's chrome mine near Rustenburg restarted on Monday and world number one producer Anglo American Platinum said it would restart operations today.

Operations were still suspended at Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer.

Since the strike broke out at Lonmin, platinum has gained nearly a quarter in value to trade at its highest since late February.

Palladium was down nearly two per cent on the day at US$683.10, while silver was down 0.4 per cent at US$34.50 an ounce. Reuters