By Zandi Shabalala
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Gold rose to its highest in more than a week on Monday as the dollar weakened and the euro powered ahead after the head of the European Central Bank refrained from talking down the single currency at a high-profile meeting of central bankers.
At the meeting in Jackson Hole in the U.S. state of Wyoming, the ECB’s Mario Draghi said the bank’s ultra-loose monetary policy was working and the euro zone’s economic recovery had taken hold, refraining from commenting on the euro’s recent strength.
That was enough to push the euro to its highest in more than 2-1/2 years against the U.S. dollar while the dollar index (.DXY) fell to its lowest since May 2016. [FRX/]
“Draghi did not refer to the strong euro being a break on policy normalisation — this is what it triggered the rally in the euro and the price reaction in gold mirrors what the currencies did,” said Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke.
Spot gold (XAU=) rose 0.5 percent to $1,297.51 an ounce by 1125 GMT, having touched its highest since Aug. 18 at $1,298.58.
U.S. gold futures (GCcv1) were up 0.4 percent at $1,303.
Trade was thin because of a UK public holiday.
At Jackson Hole, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made no reference to U.S. monetary policy but instead focussed on financial regulations, leading traders to expect interest rates to be raised more slowly.
Gold is highly sensitive to rising U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
ABN AMRO commodities analyst Georgette Boelle said gold could test the psychologically important level of $1,300 this week if U.S. data is supportive.
Further supporting gold was geopolitical uncertainty sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed threat to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Speculators raised their net long position in COMEX gold for the sixth straight week in the week to Aug. 22. [CFTC/]
In other precious metals, silver (XAG=) was up 0.6 percent at $17.16 an ounce, having touched its highest since Aug. 18 at $17.21.
Platinum (XPT=) rose 0.3 percent to $975.10 and palladium (XPD=) edged up 0.3 percent to $933.70, close to a 16-year high of $940.50 hit on Friday.
The strength in palladium seemed to be driven by investment demand rather than fundamental demand for the metal’s use in autocatalytic converters, Julius Baer’s Menke said.
(Additional reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman and Susan Fenton)
