Gold prices edged up on Thursday, January 11, after touching their highest since September in the previous session, buoyed as a rally in equities appeared to falter.
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,317.93 an ounce by 0655 GMT. On Wednesday, it marked its lowest since Sept. 15 at $1,326.56 an ounce. U.S. gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $1,319.10 an ounce.
“Rising oil prices and strong global growth suggest gold will remain supported as investors look for inflation
protection,” said Stephen Innes, APAC head of trading at Oanda.
“Also, a highly-anticipated stock market correction is providing support on dips which continues to support the bullish gold narrative.”
Oil prices held near three-year highs on Thursday, buoyed by a surprise drop in U.S. production and lower crude inventories.
The New Year rally in Asian shares petered out on Thursday due to concerns about rising U.S. protectionism.
“Gold could test $1,327 in the short term and above which $1,362 will be opened … Global equities are running at a high level of exuberance, confidence and valuation … which in short stands for a bubble,” said Amit Kumar Gupta, portfolio management services head at Adroit Financial Services.
“The belief ‘this time it is different’ is all set to get a rude shock.”
Spot gold looks neutral in a range of $1,311-$1,329 per ounce, and an escape could suggest a direction, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Meanwhile, holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.35 percent to 828.96 tonnes on Wednesday from Tuesday. Holdings fell for a second straight day on Wednesday.
Among other precious metals, spot silver rose 0.2 percent to $17.01 an ounce. Prices fell to the lowest in nearly two weeks at $16.86 on Wednesday.
Platinum was mostly unchanged at $968.24 an ounce, after touching its highest in nearly four months at $974 in the last session.
Palladium climbed 0.1 percent to $1,084.40 an ounce, after seeing its worst one-day fall in over a month on
Wednesday. Palladium, which rose to a record of $1,111.40 on Tuesday, fell 1.5 percent the session before.
