• Gold rose on Wednesday, hitting its highest in nearly four months as the dollar swooned after a report that Chinese officials had recommended slowing or halting purchases of U.S. Treasury securities.
• The dollar, already under pressure versus the Japanese yen after the Bank of Japan moved to trim its long-dated government bond purchases this week, was on track to post its biggest single-day drop against the yen in seven weeks. The greenback also lost ground against a basket of major currencies.
• Spot gold was up 0.5 percent at $1,318.67 an ounce by 1:41 p.m. EST (1841 GMT). Its session high of $1,326.56 was its highest since Sept. 15. U.S. gold futures for February delivery settled up $5.60, or 0.4 percent, at $1,319.30 per ounce.
• U.S. Treasury yields jumped to 10-month highs after Bloomberg News reported that Chinese officials have recommended the country slow or halt its purchases of the U.S. bonds.
• Rising Treasury yields can pressure prices for gold, but the dollar's slide helped gold shrug off the impact.
• A possible slow-down or halt to China purchasing U.S. Treasury yields could have significant repercussions, ONADA said in a note.
"The tightening effect of such measures would likely have an impact on how many times the Federal Reserve raises interest rates this year, which is why we've seen a corresponding drop in the dollar," OANDA said.
• Among other metals, palladium dropped 1.5 percent at $1,083.97 an ounce, after hitting a record high on Tuesday at $1,111.40. Tightening emissions standards and a switch away from diesel cars to more palladium-heavy gasoline models has shored up demand expectations for the autocatalyst metal.
Platinum was up 0.9 percent at $973.60 an ounce, after hitting a nearly four-month high of $973.90.
Silver was up 0.4 percent at $17.01 an ounce, after earlier drifting to $16.86, its lowest since Dec. 29.
Reference: Reuters
Thai
Eng