BULLION LATEST 29/11: Gold rises after North Korean missile launch

The spot gold price was quoted at $1,295.1/1,295.4 per oz as of 11:42 Shanghai time, up $1.25 on yesterday’s close. Trade has ranged from $1,292.65 to $1,296.15 so far this morning.

• The US dollar index was recently at 93.23, up 0.01% from yesterday’s close.
• Despite a strong recovery in the US dollar overnight, the yellow metal’s price has been supported in Asia by the news that North Korea had fired another ballistic missile.
• “One positive is that it (the gold price) has shrugged off a stronger US dollar overnight as the US Senate made progress on the tax reform bill,” Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA said.
• “Reports late in the day that North Korea fired another ballistic missile did see some safe-haven buying emerge,” ANZ Research said.
  

 Silver up; PGMs mixed

• In the other precious metals, the spot silver price rose $0.013 to $16.870/16.905 per oz. Platinum gained $3 to $947/952 per oz and palladium dipped $1 to $1023/1,028 per oz.
• On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, gold for June delivery was recently at 281.65 yuan ($42.65) per gram, and June silver was at 3,960 yuan per kilogram.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was up by 0.03% at 93.24 as of 10.30 Shanghai time.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price dropped by 0.13% to $63.23 per barrel while the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price was flat at $57.68.
• In equities, the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.7% to 3,310.28.
• US data overnight was mixed: consumer confidence beat expectations with a rise to 129.5 in November, hitting a 17-year high; the October advance trade deficit moved up to $68.3 billion from $64.1 billion previously; wholesale inventories fell by 0.4% in October, compared with a 0.1% rise in September.
• Today’s economic calendar is quite busy with US data that includes preliminary third-quarter gross domestic product, pending home sales and crude oil inventories.
• In addition, there will be Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meetings held throughout the day.
• There are also a number central bank officials speaking today including US Federal Open Market Committee member William Dudley, Bank of England (BOE) governor Mark Carney, BOE deputy governor David Ramsden and US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen.