Gold climbed for the first time in five days as the attacks in Paris reinvigorated bullion’s traditional role as a haven.
Analysts cautioned that the gains might be short-lived, with the metal’s trajectory still likely to be determined by the US Federal Reserve.
Bullion for immediate delivery yesterday advanced as much as 1.2 percent to US$1,096.44 per ounce and was at US$1,096.35 per ounce at 2:43pm in Singapore trading, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. Prices sank 0.5 percent last week, dropping to US$1,074.25 per ounce on Thursday, the lowest since February 2010.
Islamic State-backed attackers killed at least 129 people across the French capital on Friday in Europe’s worst terror incident in more than a decade.
The event might spur short-term demand for gold, according to Commerzbank AG and Dubai-based bank Emirates NBD PJSC. Prices have retreated 7.4 percent this year as signs of resilient US economic growth boosted the odds that the Fed would soon raise rates.
“It’s a knee-jerk reaction to the tragic events over the weekend,” Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd Singapore-based analyst Victor Thianpiriya wrote in an e-mail. “Ultimately, I don’t think these gains will be sustained.”
Other precious metals also climbed yesterday. Platinum for immediate delivery rose 1.5 percent to US$872.35, the first gain since Oct. 28, while silver advanced as much as 1.3 percent to US$14.4437. Spot palladium gained 1.7 percent after tumbling 13 percent last week, the most since May 2010.
Gold is heading for a third annual decline as Fed policymakers lay the groundwork to raise borrowing costs for the first time since 2006.
Bullion loses out when monetary policy tightens because the metal does not offer interest or pay dividends. Investors see a 62 percent chance the US central bank plans to boost rates next month.
“Against the backdrop of terror attacks in Paris, adjustments to global asset prices will boost safe-haven demand for precious metals,” Huatai Great Wall Futures Co (華泰期貨) wrote in a note yesterday. “Gold and silver prices are expected to rise this week on risk aversion in tandem with the dollar.”
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by