US MIDDAY: gold gains

23 Mar, 2019

Gold prices rose on Friday as weak economic data from the euro zone exacerbated fears of a global slowdown, weighing on risk sentiment and putting bullion on track for its best week in nearly two months.
Spot gold climbed about 0.3 percent at $1,313.07 per ounce by 1:48 p.m. EDT (1748 GMT), while US gold futures settled 0.4 percent higher at $1,312.3.
The metal was up nearly 1 percent for the week, on track to mark its biggest weekly percentage gain since beginning of February.
"There is some safe demand that has surfaced," said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals.
"The US Federal Reserve suggested US economic growth was slowing, which has spilled over into notions that the rest of the world economy might be experiencing slower growth. That was highlighted by the PMI data out of the European Union, auguring for some trepidation in the world's stock markets."
Businesses across the euro zone performed much worse than expected this month as factory activity contracted at the fastest pace in nearly six years, hurt by a big drop in demand, a survey showed.
European stocks suffered after the weak data, while US stocks opened lower.
"Price action in gold continues to lend strength to our view that expected data deterioration will help spark a gold rally as interest rates continue to fall in the context of a slowing global economy," analysts at TD Securities wrote in a note.
Gold prices rose to their highest since Feb. 28 on Thursday at $1,320.22. Despite paring some of those gains, they were still on track for a third straight weekly gain, up about 1 percent so far.
Among other precious metals, spot palladium fell 3 percent to $1,560.51 per ounce, after touching an all-time high of $1,620.53 in the previous session.
Silver slipped 0.4 percent at $15.41 per ounce, but was up about 0.8 percent for the week. Platinum fell 1.4 percent to $846. Platinum has risen more than 2 percent so far this week.

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