Gold Prices Update

Gold prices rose slightly in Asian trade on Thursday, recovering from a decline from record highs. Anxiety over the U.S. election and shifting interest rate expectations continued to favor the dollar.

Despite losses on Wednesday, the yellow metal remained higher for the week, with increased safe haven demand likely to support prices in the coming days.

Current Gold Prices

• Spot Gold: Increased 0.3% to $2,724.70 an ounce
• Gold Futures (December): Increased 0.3% to $2,737.15 an ounce

Earlier this week, spot prices reached a record high of $2,758.53 an ounce.

Underpinning Demand for Gold

Gold prices have retained most of their gains this week as safe haven demand rises amid political tensions in the U.S. presidential election and unrest in the Middle East.

Israeli officials expressed strong rhetoric against Iran on Wednesday, heightening concerns over potential military escalation. Additionally, Israel continued its operations against Hamas and Hezbollah.

In the U.S., Republican nominee Donald Trump appears to have an advantage over Vice President Kamala Harris just weeks before the election, creating further uncertainty in U.S. politics.

The increased safe haven demand has kept traders favoring gold and other precious metals, enabling them to withstand strength in the dollar, which benefits from expectations of slower interest rate declines.

Other Precious Metals

Other precious metals also saw positive movement on Thursday, benefiting from the week's gains:
– Platinum Futures: Rose 0.7% to $1,037.80 an ounce
– Silver Futures: Rose 0.6% to $34.050 an ounce

Industrial Metals: Copper Prices Rise

Among industrial metals, copper prices increased on Thursday as traders focused on upcoming purchasing managers index readings from the U.S. and euro zone.

• Benchmark Copper Futures traded on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.7% to $9,581.50 a ton.
• December Copper Futures increased 0.7% to $4.3637 a pound.

However, both contracts faced losses this week as traders awaited more cues on stimulus from top importer China, with a National People’s Congress meeting expected later this month to outline fiscal spending plans.