Gold rose 1.5 percent on Thursday, boosted by gains in equities and commodities as the dollar dropped after a eurozone agreement to boost the region's bailout fund and slash Greece's debt. Even as many investors returned to riskier assets, gold also benefited from some safe-haven flows by investors who remained wary about the eurozone agreement until more details emerge.
Gold rose for a fifth straight session, and silver surged 5 percent after the EU leaders struck an agreement under which banks would accept 50 percent losses on their Greek debt holdings in a bid to cut Athens' debt to sustainable levels. Bullion's inflation-hedge appeal received a huge boost as the EU deal also foresees a recapitalization of hard-hit European banks and a leveraging of the bloc's rescue fund to 1.0 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion).
Spot gold was up 1.5 percent at $1,745.10 an ounce by 3:03 pm EDT (1903 GMT). It is up 8 percent in five sessions, rising both with risk assets and safe-haven flows. US gold futures for December delivery settled up $24.20 at $1,747.70 an ounce. Volume was slightly below its 30-day average but higher than the extremely low turnover in the last two weeks.
Silver gained 5.6 percent to $35.25 an ounce, its biggest five-day rally in over three years and largest one-day increase since early May. In other precious metals, platinum rose 2.7 percent to $1,632 an ounce. Palladium climbed 3.6 percent to $664.97 an ounce, set for a 9-percent rise so far this week, its largest in almost a year.
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