Gold rises as traders look for a shield from market volatility

Bengaluru — Gold came off a one-week low to trade higher on Wednesday as investors sought cover from market volatility and uncertainty surrounding the fallout of US midterm elections results.

Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,228.52/oz, as of 6.25am GMT, having touched its lowest since November 1 at $1,222.90 earlier in the session.

US gold futures was 0.3% higher at $1,229.5/oz.

“The spectre of a Democrat-controlled House suggests that we will see a little bit of risk-off in the market, which should probably benefit gold in parts,” said ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes.

Democrats rode a wave of dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump to win control of the US House of Representatives. The win creates a clear hurdle for Republicans to easily pass legislation through both chambers of Congress, clouding the outlook for some of Trump’s key economic proposals.

Wall Street stock futures and Asian shares held earlier gains on the election news, while the dollar weakened against most of other major counterparts, helping bullion’s appeal among holders of other currencies.

While the outcome of the elections were broadly in line with market expectations, a reason markets did not sell off, the prospect of political gridlock creates some uncertainty for investors.

“In the short and medium term, gold will be bullish from here,” said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong.

Investors also awaited a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve starting later in the day to gauge the outlook for US monetary policy. Fed policymakers are not expected to raise key rates, but traders are waiting to see whether they offer clues about possible rate increases in December and in 2019, analysts said.

The outcome of the US midterm congressional elections and a two-day US Federal Reserve meeting will likely keep trading activities tight for gold prices today,” Benjamin Lu, a commodities analyst with Phillip Futures, said in a note.

Spot gold may break a support at $1,224/oz and fall to the next support at $1,211, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, fell for the third consecutive session to 756.70 tons on Monday.

Among other precious metals, silver rose 0.3% to $14.57/oz.

Palladium slipped 0.1% to $1,114.49/oz and platinum gained 0.5% to $871.5/oz. In the previous session, it touched its highest since June 25 at $875.70.

Reuters