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"Gold firmed on Wednesday and was poised to post its best quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2008, helped by dollar weakness and technica..."
Gold firmed on Wednesday and was poised to post its best quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2008, helped by dollar weakness and technical momentum.
Spot gold was at $996,30 per ounce at 0358 GMT, up 0,6% against the notional close in New York of $990,70, supported by Wednesday's retreat in the greenback.
US gold futures for December delivery were at $995,75 per ounce at 0408 GMT, up 0,5%.
Bullion is set to rise about 7% in the July-September quarter, its strongest performance since it rose 9,9% in the January to March period of 2008.
It rallied to an 18-month high of $1 023,85 an ounce earlier this month, just a few dollars shy of the March 2008 record peak of $1 030,80.
It has since succumbed to profit-taking, with a dollar bounce from a one-year low marked last week keeping bullion investors largely on the sidelines.
Market players are awaiting the reaction of currency and equity markets to US private payrolls data for September due at 1215 GMT. The ADP estimate of private payrolls is viewed as a sort of preview to the US Labour Deparments' monthly non-farm payrolls report due this Friday.
Economists polled by Reuters estimated that the ADP national employment report would show that payrolls shed 210 000 jobs in September.
"Trading is rangebound. The focus is on the foreign exchange market and US payrolls data to be released tonight," said Leon Lee, senior gold trader at Bank of China in Hong Kong.
There is little physical buying demand at current price levels, Lee said, noting that further consolidation towards $980 per ounce would be needed to spur such buying.
In the currency market, the euro inched up 0,2% to $1,4620, having climbed over 4% so far in July-September.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1 094,107 tons on Tuesday, unchanged since Thursday.
Looking ahead, some analysts said investors would soon resume buying gold to hedge against a weakening dollar as the US central bank will likely maintain its easy grip on monetary policy to support the financial system.
Koichiro Kamei, managing director at Market Strategy Institute in Tokyo, said a further rally in global equity markets seems unlikely as prices have factored in most of the bright spots ahead. Instead, the market focus will shift to banks' quarterly earnings.
"In October, earnings are likely to show the financial conditions of banks are far from good enough to fix investor confidence," Kamei said. "That means the Federal Reserve's easy policy is unlikely to end any time soon, resulting in a weak dollar, inflation woes and therefore, a buy for gold," he said.
Underlining vulnerability of the US financial system, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp on Tuesday discussed how to rebuild the bank deposit insurance fund, which has been depleted by a sharp increase in bank failures.
The FDIC's five-member board proposed that banks repay three years of fees to help cover the rising cost of bank failures.
Spot gold was at $996,30 per ounce at 0358 GMT, up 0,6% against the notional close in New York of $990,70, supported by Wednesday's retreat in the greenback.
US gold futures for December delivery were at $995,75 per ounce at 0408 GMT, up 0,5%.
Bullion is set to rise about 7% in the July-September quarter, its strongest performance since it rose 9,9% in the January to March period of 2008.
It rallied to an 18-month high of $1 023,85 an ounce earlier this month, just a few dollars shy of the March 2008 record peak of $1 030,80.
It has since succumbed to profit-taking, with a dollar bounce from a one-year low marked last week keeping bullion investors largely on the sidelines.
Market players are awaiting the reaction of currency and equity markets to US private payrolls data for September due at 1215 GMT. The ADP estimate of private payrolls is viewed as a sort of preview to the US Labour Deparments' monthly non-farm payrolls report due this Friday.
Economists polled by Reuters estimated that the ADP national employment report would show that payrolls shed 210 000 jobs in September.
"Trading is rangebound. The focus is on the foreign exchange market and US payrolls data to be released tonight," said Leon Lee, senior gold trader at Bank of China in Hong Kong.
There is little physical buying demand at current price levels, Lee said, noting that further consolidation towards $980 per ounce would be needed to spur such buying.
In the currency market, the euro inched up 0,2% to $1,4620, having climbed over 4% so far in July-September.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1 094,107 tons on Tuesday, unchanged since Thursday.
Looking ahead, some analysts said investors would soon resume buying gold to hedge against a weakening dollar as the US central bank will likely maintain its easy grip on monetary policy to support the financial system.
Koichiro Kamei, managing director at Market Strategy Institute in Tokyo, said a further rally in global equity markets seems unlikely as prices have factored in most of the bright spots ahead. Instead, the market focus will shift to banks' quarterly earnings.
"In October, earnings are likely to show the financial conditions of banks are far from good enough to fix investor confidence," Kamei said. "That means the Federal Reserve's easy policy is unlikely to end any time soon, resulting in a weak dollar, inflation woes and therefore, a buy for gold," he said.
Underlining vulnerability of the US financial system, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp on Tuesday discussed how to rebuild the bank deposit insurance fund, which has been depleted by a sharp increase in bank failures.
The FDIC's five-member board proposed that banks repay three years of fees to help cover the rising cost of bank failures.
