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Gold rockets to 9-month high above $1200
The price of gold hit a nine-month high on Thursday after jumping as much as 1.5 per cent to $1,215.01 an ounce in morning trade, the highest level since May 19 last year.
Gold is typically sensitive to US interest rate expectations and the dollar, and normally benefits from a flight to havens amid market turmoil. Expectations the Federal Reserve could postpone near-term interest rate cuts have been building over the past week or so, and were further underpinned by Janet Yellen, as the Fed chair indicated in her testimony to the US Congress on Wednesday that turbulence in global financial markets could weigh on US growth.
The US dollar eased 0.2 per cent on Wednesday following Ms Yellen’s testimony, its 11th decline in the past 13 sessions. In Asia this morning, the dollar index – a measure of the US currency versus a basket of global peers – was a further 0.2 per cent lower at 95.697.
The slide in the dollar continues to underpin recent gains for the euro, yen and gold. The greenback was weaker against all Asian currencies in mid-morning trade.
The euro was flat at $1.1296. The yen was 0.5 per cent stronger at Y112.80 per dollar, its strongest level since October 31, 2014 when the Bank of Japan boosted the size of its asset purchase programme.
Elsewhere in commodities, oil was lower on Thursday in Asia. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was down 0.9 per cent at $30.55 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, was down 1.8 per cent at $26.97.
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