PRECIOUS-Gold holds above $1,300 after ECB boost, eyes 3rd weekly gain SINGAPORE, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Gold steadied above $1,300 a tonne on Friday, near its strongest level in five months after the European Central Bank launched a multi-billion bond-buying programme to invigorate the euro zone economy. The precious metal, a hedge against inflation, jumped on Thursday after the ECB said it would purchase sovereign debt from this March until the end of September 2016. FUNDAMENTALS * Spot gold was little changed at $1,300.70 an ounce by 0035 GMT. The precious metal peaked at $1,306.20 on Thursday, its highest since Aug. 15, and was headed for a third straight weekly gain. * U.S. gold was also steady at $1,300.60 an ounce. * Together with existing schemes to buy private debt and funnel hundreds of billions of euros in cheap loans to banks, the ECBs new quantitative easing programme will release 60 billion euros ($68 billion) a month into the economy, ECB President Mario Draghi said. * By September next year, more than 1 trillion euros will have been created under quantitative easing, the ECBs last remaining major policy option for reviving economic growth and warding off deflation. * Euro-priced gold was trading at 1,145.06 euros an ounce, after rising as high as 1,150.47 euros overnight, its highest since April 2013. * Federal Reserve policymakers, already struggling to assure investors that they remain on track for a mid-year interest rate rise, will find the task has just become harder with their peers in Europe and elsewhere headed in the opposite direction. * Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper voiced complete confidence in the Bank of Canada after it stunned markets by cutting interest rates amid a plunge in oil prices. * Russias gold reserves rose to 38.8 million troy ounces as of Jan. 1 from 38.2 million troy ounces a month earlier, the central bank said. * For the top stories on metals and other news, click or MARKET NEWS * The euro was at 11-year lows after suffering a massive decline following the ECBs stimulus programme. * U.S. crude rose by more than a dollar after Saudi Arabia announced that King Abdullah had died and his successor, Salman, moved quickly to name his own heir to rule the worlds biggest oil exporter. DATA AHEAD (GMT) 0145 China HSBC manufacturing PMI flash Jan 0800 France Markit manufacturing PMI flash Jan 0830 Germany Markit manufacturing PMI flash Jan 0900 Euro zone Markit manufacturing PMI flash Jan 1330 U.S. National activity index Dec 1445 U.S. Markit manufacturing PMI flash Jan 1500 U.S. Existing home sales Dec 1500 U.S. Leading index Dec Precious metals prices 0035 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1300.70 -0.28 -0.02 9.90 Spot Silver 18.29 0.00 +0.00 16.79 Spot Platinum 1279.40 1.60 +0.13 6.63 Spot Palladium 771.22 -0.68 -0.09 -2.71 COMEX GOLD FEB5 1300.60 -0.10 -0.01 9.84 2735 COMEX SILVER MAR5 18.34 -0.02 -0.11 17.57 721 Euro/Dollar 1.1356 Dollar/Yen 118.49 COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 02:39:24 +0000
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