Gold hits its highest peak since June 2018

Bengaluru

GOLD scaled a more than six-month peak on Wednesday as the dollar fell along with Asian equities after disappointing data from China cemented fears of a slowdown in global economic growth.

Spot gold was up 0.28 per cent at US$1,285.71 an ounce, after hitting its highest since June 15, 2018 at US$1,287.31 earlier in the session. US gold futures rose 0.5 per cent to US$1,287.80 per ounce.

"It looks very optimistic and fundamentally supportive for gold as the overall mood is still very uncertain and the market confidence is still weak on global growth worries," said Benjamin Lu Jiaxuan, a commodities analyst at Phillip Futures.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was hovering near a two-month low hit in the previous session. A softer dollar makes the greenback denominated bullion cheaper for investors holding other currencies.

"The global economy has entered into an uncharted territory considering the fact that the Chinese data was worse than expected," said Kunal Shah, head of research at Nirmal Bang Commodities in Mumbai, India.

"With uncertainties on global economy and geopolitical concerns, it's just a matter of time that gold is going to shoot up." REUTERS