SINGAPORE: Gold edged higher on Wednesday as weaker equities burnished its appeal as a hedge, as investors awaited cues from minutes of the US Federal Reserve's April policy meeting due later in the day.
Platinum rose slightly as labour strikes in top producer South Africa dragged on for a 17th week and after an industry report said a shortage of the metal was set to widen this year.
"The gold market looks neutral now, but a break out on either the upside or downside may trigger impulsive buying or selling," Phillip Futures analysts said in a note.
The absence of news on the US economic front and on the Ukraine crisis is preventing traders from taking new positions, the analysts said.
Spot gold edged up 0.2 percent to $1,295.90 an ounce by 0332 GMT, while platinum rose 0.4 percent to $1,467.00.
Asian shares caught Wall Street's gloom on Wednesday, while the dollar was on track for a sixth losing session against the yen.
Gold's uptick comes despite a drop in holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the top gold-backed exchange-traded fund. The fund saw outflows of 1.79 tonnes on Tuesday.
The metal also got support from news that demand in key player India could increase in the second half of the year as the new government is expected to ease import curbs.
In news from the platinum group metals, refiner Johnson Matthey said on Tuesday that the platinum market is expected to post a deficit of 1.218 million ounces this year, the largest shortfall since it began compiling data in 1975.
South Africa, currently facing its longest and costliest platinum miners' strike ever, is expected to supply a quarter of a million fewer ounces of metal in 2014 than last year. Platinum is mainly used to make emissions-capping catalytic converters in automobiles.
The world's top platinum producers and the AMCU union agreed on Tuesday to court-mediated wage talks to end the strikes that have hit about 40 percent of global production.
Comments
Comments are closed.