Singapore: Gold held on to small overnight gains on Thursday, as sluggish US retail sales data boosted the metal's safe-haven appeal, although higher stock markets could keep any gains in check.
Fundamentals
Spot gold was steady at $1,311.16 an ounce.,after gaining 0.3 percent in the previous session. US. gold slipped about $2 to $1,312.70. Data on Wednesday showed US retail sales unexpectedly stalled in July, pointing to some loss of momentum in the economy early in the third quarter. This eased some investor fears that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates sooner than expected.
Global geopolitical tensions continued to favour gold. Ukraine described Russia's dispatch of an aid convoy advancing towards its border as a cynical act designed to fan a pro-Russian rebellion. The conflict has killed over 2,000 people since mid-April.
Israel and the Palestinians renewed a truce that had largely tempered a five-week-old war, but the deal got off to a shaky start on Thursday with rockets from Gaza slamming into Israel and Israel retaliating with air strikes.
SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.26 tonnes to 795.60 tonnes on Wednesday. A federal judicial panel on Wednesday ordered that 18 lawsuits alleging a conspiracy to manipulate gold prices be consolidated into one proceeding in New York.
