London - Gold climbed to the highest price this month in New York on speculation a gain above the 10-day moving average and a resistance level near $1,585 an ounce spurred more purchases.
Bullion futures’ 10-day moving average is currently at about $1,579 and the metal mostly traded below $1,585 since the beginning of this month.
While bullion exchange-traded product holdings have been falling, volumes traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange increased since last month.
The dollar traded near a seven-month high against six counterparts before a report tomorrow that may show US retail sales improved last month.
“Technical buying above $1,585 an ounce may have triggered more buy orders,” Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said today by phone.
“It didn’t take much to move the market” and a climb above the 10-day moving average probably spurred purchases, he said.
Gold futures for April delivery gained 0.9 percent to $1,591.90 an ounce by 7:46 a.m. on the Comex in New York.
Prices reached $1,592.90, the highest since February 28.
Gold for immediate delivery was up 0.7 percent at $1,593.21 in London.
Futures trading volume was 7 percent above the average in the past 100 days for this time of day. Daily volumes for the benchmark cash contract on the Shanghai Gold Exchange have been more than double the average in 2012 since Feb. 18, when it reached a record 22,024 kilograms, exchange data show.
“It might have been some algorithmic trading kicking in,” Marc Ground, a commodity strategist at Standard Bank Plc in Johannesburg, said by phone, referring to today’s price rise.
Gold is down 5 percent this year on mounting confidence economies are recovering.
The US jobless rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7 percent in February, data showed last week.
Holdings in bullion-backed ETPs fell to 2,479.9 metric tons yesterday, the lowest since September, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Silver for May delivery rose as much as 1.2 percent to $29.205 an ounce and was last at $29.16.
Palladium for June delivery was down 0.3 percent at $776.50 an ounce.
Platinum for April delivery climbed 0.4 percent to $1,606.90 an ounce. - Bloomberg News