BULLION LATEST 17/11: Gold price gains as dollar sinks

The spot gold price was quoted at $1,283.20-1,283.50 per oz as of 04:07am London time, up by $4.20 compared with the previous session’s close. Trade has ranged from $1,278.95-1,284.15 so far in the day.

• The dollar dropped after a Wall Street Journal report said that US investigators looking into possible Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election had subpoenaed Trump’s election campaign documents.
• The dollar index had dipped as low as 93.51 on Friday – the lowest since Wednesday – and was at 93.58 at 04:05am London time, down 0.31% from the previous session’s close.
• “From recent market developments, there seems to be a low chance of a December rate hike not happening, but the focus now should be on the pace of rate increase by the [US Federal Reserve] in 2018,” China’s Galaxy Futures said on Friday.
• Market participants see a 91.5% chance of the target rate rising to 125-150 basis points (bps) and 8.5% chance of increase to 150-175 bps during the US Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting on December 13, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Silver, PGMs

• In the other precious metals, the spot silver price was up by $0.033 to $17.085-17.13 per oz. Platinum rose $7 to $934-939 per oz and palladium gained $6 to $991-996 per oz.
• An apparent military coup in Zimbabwe – the world’s third largest of platinum – had spooked fears of supply disruptions, ANZ Research said on Friday.
• On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, gold for June delivery was at 279.85 yuan ($42.20) per gram, and the December silver was at 3,874 yuan per kg.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was down 0.31% at 93.58 as of 04:05am London time.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price fell 0.529% to $61.19 per barrel as of 04:11am London time.
• In US data on Thursday, weekly unemployment claims came in at 249,000, above the 235,000 forecast. Import prices also disappointed with a 0.2%, below an expected print of 0.4%, and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve manufacturing index stood at 22.7.
• Additionally, the capacity utilization rate improved to 77%, besting the estimate of 76.3%. Industrial production month over month ticked up 0.9%, beating the previous release of 0.4%.
• The economic agenda is light today with mainly US building permits and housing starts of note. European Central Bank president Mario Draghi is also scheduled to speak.