Gold prices rebound after ECB announces more stimulus measures

[NEW YORK] Gold futures rebounded after the European Central Bank expanded stimulus measures, boosting demand for the metal as a store of value.

ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank will buy 60 billion euros a month of assets through September 2016.

The Executive Board earlier proposed buying 50 billion euros (US$58 billion) of bonds a month through December 2016, according to two euro-area central-bank officials.

"It's slightly higher than what the market was expecting, so we saw some buyers come in to the gold market," Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist at Archer Financial Services Inc in Chicago, said in a telephone interview.

"Investors are torn between whether to continue the flight to quality, or invest more cash into the equity market because of further injection of cheap capital."

Bullion is up about 9 per cent this year as stagnating economies challenge policy makers to generate new ways to buoy growth, boosting demand for haven assets. Increasing stimulus measures have increased the appeal of gold as an alternative to currencies that are being revalued.

Gold futures for February delivery rose 0.1 per cent to US$1,295.30 an ounce at 9:01am on the Comex in New York. Prices this week topped US$1,300 for the first time in five months.

BLOOMBERG