Gold at one-week high as weak dollar supports; ECB meet in focus

[BENGALURU] Gold steadied near a one-week high on Thursday as the US dollar weakened, but the yellow metal traded in a narrow US$8 range as investors held back from making large bets ahead of the European Central Bank's (ECB) monetary policy decision due later in the day.

Spot gold was flat at US$1,945.87 per ounce by 3.07am GMT, after hitting its highest since Sept 3 at US$1,950.51 on Wednesday.

US gold futures were steady at US$1,955.50.

"The US dollar is a bit lower, stocks bounced a bit and that essentially carried over to gold as well," said DailyFx currency strategist Ilya Spivak.

Asian stock markets on Thursday snapped their longest losing streak since February following a bounce on Wall Street, while the dollar index slipped from four-week highs, making gold less expensive for holders of other currencies.

"The ECB meeting is an important piece of event risk... At some extent gold is may be waiting not even just the ECB, also for the US CPI data and the Federal Reserve next week," Mr Spivak said.

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The ECB is all but certain to keep policy unchanged when it announces its decision at 11.45am GMT, which will then followed by a news conference by its president Christine Lagarde.

The US central bank will follow closely with a two-day meeting set for next week.

Major central banks have rolled out unprecedented stimulus measures and kept interest rates low, driving gold to new highs because of its role as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement.

"Ample money supply, lower interest rates and macro uncertainty should support gold investment," ANZ analysts said in a note. "Physical demand is recovering, so we see the gold price reaching US$2,300/oz next year."

Elsewhere, silver was steady at US$27.02 per ounce, platinum rose 0.4 per cent to US$919.24 and palladium gained 1 per cent at US$2,295.85.

REUTERS