Gold rose on Thursday as global markets took respite from a massive sell-off in risky assets and absorbed Republican Donald Trump's shocking US presidential win, but gains were capped by firmer Asian stocks. Spot gold was up 0.75 percent at $1,287.15 an ounce at 0712 GMT, while US gold futures climbed 1.1 percent to $1,287.50 per ounce.
"Given that Donald Trump hardly has any policy details to back up his general proposals, it is not clear yet what effects his presidency will have on the various markets," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note. "We have been testing upside and we certainly going to be much more comfortable if we touch back above $1,300... We see a lot of buying activity from China," said Spencer Campbell, general manager with Kaloti Precious Metals in Singapore.
Gold rose nearly 5 percent to touch $1,337.40 on Wednesday, its highest in six weeks. But prices have since retreated as US markets reacted positively to the Trump win. "Despite the pullback there are long-term uncertainties associated with the stated policy objectives of a Trump presidency that are likely to engineer a gold rally," HSBC analyst James Steel said in a note.