Gold Climbs as Traders Look Beyond Venezuela Risk to US Data

Commodity

Political

Summary:

Gold rose as traders looked beyond tensions in Venezuela toward a busy lineup of economic data in the US. Silver rallied for a third day.

Spot gold climbed about 1.1% on Tuesday to trade above $4,495 an ounce, after gaining 2.7% in the previous session following the US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro injected fresh geopolitical uncertainty into markets.

While the political landscape in the South American nation remains fragile, traders turned their attention to a slew of US economic data due this week — including the December jobs report due Friday. A gauge of manufacturing activity came in weaker than expected on Tuesday, bolstering rate cut hopes — helping to boost non-interest bearing bullion. Gold Climbs as Traders Look Beyond Venezuela Risk to US Data_1

Gold Climbs as Traders Look Beyond Venezuela Risk to US Data_1

The escalation in Venezuela provided a short-term boost to gold’s safe-haven demand, but its impact “may be limited” unless tensions in the Caribbean rise further, Dilin Wu, a strategist at Pepperstone Group Ltd., said in a note.

Gold is fresh from posting its best annual performance since 1979, hitting a series of record highs throughout last year with support from central-bank buying and inflows to bullion-backed exchange-traded funds. Three successive rate cuts by the Fed were also a tailwind for precious metals, which don’t pay interest.

Bullion hit an all-time high of $4,549.92 an ounce on Dec. 26. Some leading banks forecast further gains this year, especially with the Fed expected to deliver additional rate reductions and Trump reshaping the US central bank’s leadership. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said last month that its base case was for a rally to $4,900 an ounce, with risks to the upside.

In the near term, however, there’s concern that a broad rebalancing of commodity indexes might put pressure on prices. The record-breaking rallies in gold and silver could push passive tracking funds to sell some contracts to match new weightings, beginning Thursday.

Silver surged as much as 6.3% on Tuesday. In China, LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. said it would begin substituting base metals for silver in its solar cells in the latest move by the industry to mitigate the surging cost of the white metal.

Gold reached $4,496.34 an ounce as of 4:52 p.m. in New York. Silver rose 6.2% to $81.31 an ounce. Platinum and palladium both rose more than 6%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the US currency’s strength, edged 0.2% higher.

Source: Bloomberg

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Gold Climbs as Traders Look Beyond Venezuela Risk to US Data

Source: Bloomberg

Risk Disclosure