"It looks like gold is following stocks and the US dollar, but overall I would say it may have found a bottom, at least for the time being," Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS in Switzerland said. "All we need is some good physical demand." Some physical buying has come through of late, he said, but not as much as would have been expected given the price drop. "Premiums have been rather poor," he said.
US gold futures settled up 0.4 percent at $1,224.20. "I think it's a market looking for the next catalyst. Speculators are stuck waiting," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist for US Bank Wealth Management in Seattle. Analysts at ScotiaMocatta said the metal would struggle to rise above technical resistance at its 100-day moving average, now at $1,226. Support for the metal was at $1,195, they said.
Expected US interest rate rises this year by the Federal Reserve will put pressure on bullion, ABN Amro analyst Georgette Boele said. Gold is highly sensitive to rising US rates, which increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced. Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.8 percent at $16.27 an ounce and platinum was 0.4 percent higher at $912.
Platinum producer Lonmin said on Thursday protesters demanding jobs were disrupting output, damaging property and intimidating employees around its Marikana operations in South Africa. That lent little support to prices, however. Palladium was up 0.4 percent at $801 an ounce. The metal used in the automotive industry for emission-controlling catalytic converters is around two-year highs, but Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said recent car sales had disappointed.
Copyright Reuters, 2017