Gold rose 3 percent on Thursday, erasing the previous day's loss, as investors awaited President Obama's speech on the US economy, after a dim outlook for the eurozone from the European Central Bank. Obama will address Congress at 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) on an estimated $300 billion plan to spur job creation. Gold will be trading in Friday's Asian session at that time.
By 3:20 pm (1920 GMT) in New York, spot gold, which tracks trades in bullion, was up about $54 or 3 percent at near $1,870 an ounce. US gold futures for December delivery also jumped more than $50 or 3 percent to above $1,873 an ounce in post-settlement trade, after finishing the official session up 2.2 percent at $1,857.50. Reuters data showed gold prices have moved by more than $50 only 16 times in the past 40 years with seven of those moves occurring in the past month alone.
For the year thus far, both the spot and futures prices have risen more than 30 percent, heading closer to the $2,000 per ounce target long anticipated by gold bulls. Swiss bank UBS raised its forecast for the average price of gold to $2,075 an ounce from an earlier $1,380. It also boosted its 2011 price view to $1,665 from $1,500 previously.