By Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA (Reuters) - Gold was
trading near its highest since October on Friday, on track for its
strongest weekly gain in a month as the dollar was pressured by growing
doubts the Federal Reserve can stick to its interest rate hike campaign.
A
shaky global economy has lifted buying interest in gold, making it
among the best performing assets with a year-to-date gain of nearly 9
percent.
Other
precious metals rode on gold's rally, with silver and platinum also at
multi-month highs. Silver is eyeing its best week since May last year.
Focus is turning to the U.S.
employment report due later in the day, with analysts saying a
weaker-than-expected reading could stretch gold's rally.
Spot gold was flat at $1,154.50 an ounce by 0629 GMT, after peaking at $1,157.20 on Thursday, its highest since Oct. 29.
Gold has gained more than 3 percent so far this week, on course for its biggest such increase since early January.
Bullion's
upward momentum increased this week after a key Fed official said there
was a need to consider tighter financial conditions and the weakening
global outlook in framing U.S. monetary policy.
That spurred gold bulls,
thinking it would be tough for the Fed to raise interest rates again
this year after hiking them in December for the first time in nearly a
decade.
Non-interest
bearing gold is quite sensitive to U.S. monetary policy. Its recent
upturn has prompted some analysts to have a more positive price outlook
on the metal many had thought was bound to fall below $1,000 an ounce as
the U.S. lifts rates.
HSBC analyst James Steel said gold's rally appeared intact.
"We
see no compelling reason for more than a normal retracement before
bullion resumes an upward move. The rally is underpinned by risk-off
sentiment, a weaker dollar and a shift in global monetary policy," Steel
said.
U.S. gold for April delivery eased 0.2 percent to $1,155.20 an ounce.
Holdings
of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded
fund, continued to rise, reaching 22.3 million ounces on Thursday, the
most since late October. [GOL/ETF]
But most physical gold buyers in
Asia stayed off the market this week, widening discounts in India and
leaving demand largely lethargic in China ahead of next week's Lunar New
Year holiday. [GOL/AS]
Ahead
of the U.S. employment report, economists polled by Reuters are looking
for nonfarm payrolls to increase by 190,000 in January, after rising by
292,000 in December. The unemployment rate is forecast to remain at a
7-1/2-year low of 5 percent.
Spot
silver was off 0.3 percent at $14.82 an ounce, still near Thursday's
three-month high of $14.91 and has gained 4 percent this week. Platinum
dropped 1 percent to $899 an ounce, not far below a three-month peak,
while palladium held close to a one-month top at $512.90.
(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Joseph Radford and Anupama Dwivedi)
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