Gold Rises, Although Risk Appetite Limits Progress

Gold prices rose to their highest level in more than a week on Tuesday. Weaker dollar and a drop in US bond yields supported this rise. A strong appetite for risky assets limited gains of metal.

Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,732.53 an ounce after hitting its highest level since March 25 at $1,738.32. Gold futures in the United States were also up 0.2% at $1,732.70.

Ole Hansen, an analyst at Saxo Bank, stated that the lower dollar is the main reason for the current price of gold. Besides, during the past week, bond yields did not show a significant variation. 

Silver was up 0.3% at $24.98 an ounce; palladium increased by 0.2% at $2,670.17; and platinum lost 0.6% to $1,201.85.

The Amount of Silver Increases in The Vaults of London

The London Bullion Market Association, LBMA, published the later figures about precious metals. It revealed that the six entities, members of the LBMA, offering silver custody services at their London facilities, saw a rise in the amount of white metal accumulated. At the end of February, silver increased by 2% to 34,996 tons compared to January figures. It has a value of 30,000 million dollars and is equivalent to approximately 1,166,540 bars of this metal.

In the case of gold, the yellow metal dropped slightly. 

These six entities dedicated to the custody of precious metals in London include three securities transport companies: Brinks, Malca-Amit, and Loomis International. Three of them are banks: HSBC, ICBC Standard Bank, and JPMorgan.

In the case of gold, the February figure remained at a very similar level to January. The amount of gold accumulated by the entities totaled 9,559 tons in February compared to 9,602 tons the previous month. 

Regarding the activity of gold trading during February in the London market, the volume of transferred ounces was 2,9% lower in comparison with the previous month. It amounted to 18.8 million ounces, with a value of 34.100 million dollars.

In total, 4,650 transactions were carried out during February, almost similar to January’s figures.

In the case of silver, the volume of ounces transferred in February grew by 30%, to 336.2 million. Their value was 37% higher, up to 9.2 billion dollars.

In February, the number of operations carried out increased by 44% compared to the previous month, to 2,737, with an average of 122,830 ounces per operation, 9.8% less than in January.

The gold/silver ratio averaged 66.1 points during February, its lowest monthly average since August 2014.