Gold firmed on Thursday, edging back towards the three-month peak it reached earlier in the week on the back of dollar weakness, with the market focusing on minutes of the US&nbsp;Federal Reserve's December policy meeting.

Spot gold was up 0.4 per cent&nbsp;to $1,523.12 per ounce as of 1248 GMT, having touched its highest since Sept. 25 at $1,525.20 on Tuesday. The US&nbsp;gold futures were up 0.2 per cent&nbsp;at $1,525.80.

"We are seeing a bit of a bounce-back&nbsp;in the dollar but if you look at the movements that we saw (in the past few days), it is probably supporting gold in the interim," said OANDA analyst Craig Erlam.

The negative correlation between the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/dollar-snaps-six-day-losing-streak-a-flat-start-for-2020-271653">dollar</a> and bullion is what really propelled gold from $1,480 to $1,520, he said, but further upside in the US&nbsp;currency could put pressure on gold.

Against key rivals, the dollar was up 0.3 per cent&nbsp;this session but was trading not far from the six-month low it touched on Tuesday.

Beijing's decision to ease monetary policy further supported bullion, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/sterling-rebounds-on-eve-of-uk-election-267749">Erlam</a> added.

China's central bank on Wednesday said it was cutting the amount of cash that all banks must hold as reserves, releasing funds to shore up the slowing economy.

Bullion prices posted their biggest annual rise in nearly a decade in 2019, boosted by the drawn-out trade war between the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/china-halts-british-stock-link-over-political-tensions-sources-271591">United States and China</a> that dragged on global economic growth.

Many analysts said prices were likely to rise further in 2020, with shaky growth and global stock markets potentially looking unsustainable at record highs.

"A key thing to look out for is stock markets, which have been setting new highs," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore. "In case there is some correction, we (could) see some capital flows into gold."

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/united-kingdoms-new-government-increases-minimum-wage-to-ps872-271242">Brexit</a>, the US&nbsp;presidential election, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hong-kong-protests-severely-challenged-one-country-two-systems-principle-xi-in-his-new-year-address-271325">protests in Hong Kong</a> and <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/kim-says-north-korea-to-show-new-strategic-weapon-leaves-room-for-talks-271331">tensions with North Korea</a> would be the other key factors for the market this year, he said.

Investor focus has now turned to the minutes of the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/gold-climbs-to-three-month-high-poised-for-best-year-since-2010-271231">Federal Reserve's</a> December&nbsp;10-11 policy meeting, due at 1900 GMT on Friday. Lower interest rates encourage the buying of non-interest-paying bullion.

"Friday's US&nbsp;manufacturing ISM and the December <a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/global-markets-asian-shares-buoyed-by-wall-st-rally-but-china-worry-caps-gains-267070">Federal Open Market Committee</a> (FOMC) minutes could provide an impulse," <a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/oil-prices-surge-after-us-strike-kills-iranian-general-271775">Stephen Innes</a>, a market strategist at AxiTrader said in a note.

Among other precious metals, silver gained 0.5 per cent&nbsp;to $17.92 per ounce, while platinum rose 1.7 per cent&nbsp;to $979.65 and palladium edged up 0.4 per cent&nbsp;to $1,947.37 per ounce.

Gold firmed on Thursday, edging back towards the three-month peak it reached earlier in the week on the back of dollar weakness, with the market focusing on minutes of the US Federal Reserve's December policy meeting.

Gold firmed on Thursday, edging back towards the three-month peak it reached earlier in the week on the back of dollar weakness, with the market focusing on minutes of the US Federal Reserve's December policy meeting. Spot gold was up 0.4 per cent to $1,523.12 per ounce as of 1248 GMT, having touched its highest since Sept. 25 at $1,525.20 on Tuesday. The US gold futures were up 0.2 per cent at $1,525.80. "We are seeing a bit of a bounce-back in the dollar but if you look at the movements that we saw (in the past few days), it is probably supporting gold in the interim," said OANDA analyst Craig Erlam. The negative correlation between the dollar and bullion is what really propelled gold from $1,480 to $1,520, he said, but further upside in the US currency could put pressure on gold. Against key rivals, the dollar was up 0.3 per cent this session but was trading not far from the six-month low it touched on Tuesday. Beijing's decision to ease monetary policy further supported bullion, Erlam added. China's central bank on Wednesday said it was cutting the amount of cash that all banks must hold as reserves, releasing funds to shore up the slowing economy. Bullion prices posted their biggest annual rise in nearly a decade in 2019, boosted by the drawn-out trade war between the United States and China that dragged on global economic growth. Many analysts said prices were likely to rise further in 2020, with shaky growth and global stock markets potentially looking unsustainable at record highs. "A key thing to look out for is stock markets, which have been setting new highs," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore. "In case there is some correction, we (could) see some capital flows into gold." Brexit, the US presidential election, protests in Hong Kong and tensions with North Korea would be the other key factors for the market this year, he said. Investor focus has now turned to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's December 10-11 policy meeting, due at 1900 GMT on Friday. Lower interest rates encourage the buying of non-interest-paying bullion. "Friday's US manufacturing ISM and the December Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes could provide an impulse," Stephen Innes, a market strategist at AxiTrader said in a note. Among other precious metals, silver gained 0.5 per cent to $17.92 per ounce, while platinum rose 1.7 per cent to $979.65 and palladium edged up 0.4 per cent to $1,947.37 per ounce.

Gold rises back towards three-month high, markets eye Fed minutes

Gold rose on Thursday as the dollar remained subdued after minutes from the US&nbsp;Federal Reserve&#39;s July meeting hinted at a delay in further rate hikes, while palladium hit a fresh 16-year high.

Spot gold was up 0.3 per cent at $1,287.01 per ounce by 0340 GMT, after gaining nearly 1 per cent the previous day.

US&nbsp;gold futures for December delivery rose 0.8 per cent to $1,292.80 per ounce.

&quot;It&#39;s a dollar story and a concern that the market&#39;s been having with regards to geopolitical events,&quot; said Dominic Schnider at UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong.

The US&nbsp;dollar was on the defensive on Thursday after the minutes from the Fed&#39;s last policy meeting showed policymakers were increasingly wary of the recent softness in inflation and some called for halting interest rate hikes until it was clear the trend was transitory.

&quot;The market believes at the moment that there&#39;s not much inflation and the Fed need not do much,&quot; Schnider said.

&quot;We disagree, and believe the Fed will in September come with a balance sheet reduction and hike rates in December.&quot;

The US&nbsp;central bank is roughly at the mid-point on its current path to normalize interest rates as the economy has shown further improvement even without fiscal stimulus, San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams told CNN television on Wednesday.

Higher interest rates could boost the dollar, making commodities priced in the greenback more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Spot gold may test a resistance at $1,294 per ounce, a break above which could lead to a gain to the next resistance at $1,304, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

&quot;In the shorter term, and in the absence of any geopolitical headlines, traders should watch the performance of the dollar against its G-10 peers for clues to gold&#39;s short term direction,&quot; said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA.

Meanwhile, palladium was up 0.9 per cent at $922 after earlier marking it highest since Feb. 2001 at $926.

&quot;Palladium took some inspiration from the more industrially oriented metals,&quot; UBS&#39;s Schnider said, pointing to a broad based rally that has pushed the prices of aluminium, copper, and zinc to multi-year peaks.

The auto industry is by far the largest consumer of the palladium

Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.2 per cent at $17.11 per ounce, while platinum eased 0.3 per cent to $974 an ounce.

The auto industry is by far the largest consumer of the palladium

Gold rose on Thursday as the dollar remained subdued after minutes from the US Federal Reserve's July meeting hinted at a delay in further rate hikes, while palladium hit a fresh 16-year high. Spot gold was up 0.3 per cent at $1,287.01 per ounce by 0340 GMT, after gaining nearly 1 per cent the previous day. US gold futures for December delivery rose 0.8 per cent to $1,292.80 per ounce. "It's a dollar story and a concern that the market's been having with regards to geopolitical events," said Dominic Schnider at UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong. The US dollar was on the defensive on Thursday after the minutes from the Fed's last policy meeting showed policymakers were increasingly wary of the recent softness in inflation and some called for halting interest rate hikes until it was clear the trend was transitory. "The market believes at the moment that there's not much inflation and the Fed need not do much," Schnider said. "We disagree, and believe the Fed will in September come with a balance sheet reduction and hike rates in December." The US central bank is roughly at the mid-point on its current path to normalize interest rates as the economy has shown further improvement even without fiscal stimulus, San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams told CNN television on Wednesday. Higher interest rates could boost the dollar, making commodities priced in the greenback more expensive for holders of other currencies. Spot gold may test a resistance at $1,294 per ounce, a break above which could lead to a gain to the next resistance at $1,304, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. "In the shorter term, and in the absence of any geopolitical headlines, traders should watch the performance of the dollar against its G-10 peers for clues to gold's short term direction," said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at OANDA. Meanwhile, palladium was up 0.9 per cent at $922 after earlier marking it highest since Feb. 2001 at $926. "Palladium took some inspiration from the more industrially oriented metals," UBS's Schnider said, pointing to a broad based rally that has pushed the prices of aluminium, copper, and zinc to multi-year peaks. The auto industry is by far the largest consumer of the palladium Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.2 per cent at $17.11 per ounce, while platinum eased 0.3 per cent to $974 an ounce.

Gold edges up after gaining on softer dollar

The Nikkei slumped to its lowest close for almost three months Wednesday, leading an Asia-wide sell-off sparked by President Donald Trump&#39;s apocalyptic warning over North Korea&#39;s weapons programme.&nbsp;

Escalating tensions around Pyongyang&#39;s nuclear ambitions sent a shiver through markets worldwide and pushed the dollar to below 109.7 yen in afternoon forex trade to an eight-week low against the safe haven currency, piling more pressure on Japanese stocks.&nbsp;

Tokyo&#39;s blue-chip index tumbled 1.3 per cent to its lowest close since late May after the Dow&#39;s winning streak of nine straight records ended following Trump&#39;s sharp rhetoric of &quot;fire and fury&quot;, with the main European bourses also opening lower Wednesday. &nbsp;

Hong Kong and Shanghai followed Tokyo into the red, as China factory gate inflation came in slightly below forecast amid warnings from experts of a further slowdown in the world&#39;s second-largest economy.&nbsp;

Stocks ended more than one per cent down in Seoul while the won slumped to a three-week low against the dollar as the US president and South Korea&#39;s volatile neighbour dramatically ramped up their war of words.

Tensions spiked yet further when North Korean state media later said Pyongyang was considering strikes near US military installations in Guam.

But analysts said equities had also fallen as investors took profits.&nbsp;

&quot;North Korea is being used as a reason to sell Japanese stocks, just as it was used yesterday in the US,&quot; said Soichiro Monji from Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo.

&quot;Japanese equities hadn&#39;t been rising much despite positive earnings results, so investors had started jumping at shadows, doubting whether they should really be holdings onto Japanese stocks.&quot;

US equities had been on track for a 10th-straight record session Tuesday and the dollar was initially up after the JOLTS survey showed job openings hit a record in the US last month.

Greg McKenna, an analyst at AxiTrader, said the data could bolster the Federal Reserve&#39;s plan to start winding in its multi-trillion-dollar bond holdings balance sheet, expected to be announced next month.&nbsp;

&quot;This is Janet Yellen&#39;s favoured labour market indicator and could reinforce Yellen and her colleagues about the path they have set for policy normalisation,&quot; he said.

The positive data also bolstered the greenback against the euro and the pound Wednesday. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Sydney was a rare bright spot in Asia-Pacific with stocks closing 0.4 per cent up as Australia&#39;s biggest bank posted record annual profits.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia&#39;s profits are closely watched and the results provide a guidance on the health of the country&#39;s economy as it transitions away from a dependence on mining.

In commodities trading, US crude oil was wallowing around $49 to the barrel amid speculation that a predicted gain in American output will offset OPEC-led efforts to trim a global glut.

Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Markets, said signals around oil production were &quot;messy&quot;.

The US Energy Information Administration raised its 2017 and 2018 US crude output estimates to 9.9 million and 9.33 million barrels a day respectively, Weston said, but &quot;on the other hand, we are hearing the UAE, Kazakhstan and Iraq will fully comply with the OPEC agreement&quot; to cut oversupply.

Escalating tensions around Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions sent a shiver through markets worldwide

The Nikkei slumped to its lowest close for almost three months Wednesday, leading an Asia-wide sell-off sparked by President Donald Trump's apocalyptic warning over North Korea's weapons programme. Escalating tensions around Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions sent a shiver through markets worldwide and pushed the dollar to below 109.7 yen in afternoon forex trade to an eight-week low against the safe haven currency, piling more pressure on Japanese stocks. Tokyo's blue-chip index tumbled 1.3 per cent to its lowest close since late May after the Dow's winning streak of nine straight records ended following Trump's sharp rhetoric of "fire and fury", with the main European bourses also opening lower Wednesday. Hong Kong and Shanghai followed Tokyo into the red, as China factory gate inflation came in slightly below forecast amid warnings from experts of a further slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. Stocks ended more than one per cent down in Seoul while the won slumped to a three-week low against the dollar as the US president and South Korea's volatile neighbour dramatically ramped up their war of words. Tensions spiked yet further when North Korean state media later said Pyongyang was considering strikes near US military installations in Guam. But analysts said equities had also fallen as investors took profits. "North Korea is being used as a reason to sell Japanese stocks, just as it was used yesterday in the US," said Soichiro Monji from Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo. "Japanese equities hadn't been rising much despite positive earnings results, so investors had started jumping at shadows, doubting whether they should really be holdings onto Japanese stocks." US equities had been on track for a 10th-straight record session Tuesday and the dollar was initially up after the JOLTS survey showed job openings hit a record in the US last month. Greg McKenna, an analyst at AxiTrader, said the data could bolster the Federal Reserve's plan to start winding in its multi-trillion-dollar bond holdings balance sheet, expected to be announced next month. "This is Janet Yellen's favoured labour market indicator and could reinforce Yellen and her colleagues about the path they have set for policy normalisation," he said. The positive data also bolstered the greenback against the euro and the pound Wednesday. Sydney was a rare bright spot in Asia-Pacific with stocks closing 0.4 per cent up as Australia's biggest bank posted record annual profits. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's profits are closely watched and the results provide a guidance on the health of the country's economy as it transitions away from a dependence on mining. In commodities trading, US crude oil was wallowing around $49 to the barrel amid speculation that a predicted gain in American output will offset OPEC-led efforts to trim a global glut. Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Markets, said signals around oil production were "messy". The US Energy Information Administration raised its 2017 and 2018 US crude output estimates to 9.9 million and 9.33 million barrels a day respectively, Weston said, but "on the other hand, we are hearing the UAE, Kazakhstan and Iraq will fully comply with the OPEC agreement" to cut oversupply.

Dollar slumps, Tokyo tanks as North Korea tensions spike

dollar-value

Dollar Value, News on Dollar Value, stories on Dollar Value, articles on Dollar Value, Dollar Value stories at Wion, Dollar Value news, Dollar Value latest news

dollar value

Gold rises back towards three-month high, markets eye Fed minutes

Gold edges up after gaining on softer dollar

Dollar slumps, Tokyo tanks as North Korea tensions spike