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Gold Climbs for a Third Day in Asia on Dollar, Economic Outlook


By Glenys Sim

April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Gold gained for a third day on speculation of dollar weakness ahead, prompting some investors to shift money into precious metals as a store of value.

The metal climbed as much as 2.1 percent yesterday, the biggest intra-day gain since March 18, as the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against the euro, yen, pound, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and Swedish krona, fell the most in more than three weeks.

“I’m a gold bull, the main reason would be because the dollar will weaken at some point,” Helen Henton, head of commodity research at Standard Chartered Plc, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today.

Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.6 percent to $898.92 an ounce, and was at $897.38 at 2:22 p.m. Singapore time. The metal climbed to $899.95 an ounce yesterday, the highest since April 3, after the dollar dropped for the first time in five days.

“The improving economic outlook will probably cap gold’s gains at the psychological $900 level,” Zhu Lv, research manager at Shanghai Tonglian Futures Co., said today. “The medium-to-long-term outlook for inflationary pressures from government spending will keep gold on its uptrend.”

The benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced for a fourth day after Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s earnings beat estimates, and amid speculation government stimulus efforts worldwide will succeed in easing the global financial crisis.

“There’s been a change in sentiment in the markets over the global economic outlook and commodities are benefiting from that,” said Standard Chartered’s Henton.

Among other precious metals for immediate delivery, silver was little changed at $12.725 an ounce, platinum lost 0.8 percent to $1,233.50 an ounce, and palladium fell 0.6 percent to $238.50 an ounce at 2:24 p.m. in Singapore.

Last Updated: April 14, 2009 02:58 EDT