Gold for immediate delivery gained as much as 0.3 percent to $1,614.75 an ounce and traded at $1,614.05 at 9:42 a.m. in Singapore. Prices dropped to $1,598.23 on Feb. 15, the lowest since August. Silver added 0.5 percent to $30.085 an ounce.
Bullion lost 3.7 percent this year as platinum surged 10 percent on optimism that the global economy was strengthening. Platinum was also boosted by supply concerns. Security guards at Anglo American Platinum Ltd., the world’s largest producer, used rubber bullets in clashes between rival labor groups at its Siphumelele mine in South Africa, injuring 12 people, the company said yesterday.
“It’s very cheap,” said David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, referring to gold. “The U.S. has still got to deal with budgetary and debt constraints, they’re not going to go away. While that’s still there, we think there’s opportunity for gold to rally robustly.”
Data this week may show new residential construction cooled in January and U.S. existing-home sales slowed after the strongest year since 2007, representing a break in the momentum for the industry, according to the median estimates of economists compiled by Bloomberg. Federal Reserve officials are debating how long to continue their bond buying effort, designed to foster growth and cut 7.9 percent unemployment.
Platinum for immediate delivery traded at $1,694 an ounce, and palladium was little changed at $762.85 an ounce. (bloomberg)
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