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Gold up as traders react to FOMC minutes release

Xinhua, January 6, 2017 Adjust font size:

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Thursday as traders reacted to the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes released after the market's close on Wednesday.

The most active gold contract for February delivery rose 16 U.S. dollars, or 1.37 percent, to settle at 1,181.30 dollars per ounce.

The meeting minutes from the December FOMC meeting are out and the Fed signaled that they see uncertainty ahead, with central bankers discussing the possibility that they may need to change their current course based on the market's reaction to the unexpected election of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump.

Investors currently believe the Fed may raise rates from 0.75 to 1.00 during the March FOMC meeting at the earliest. According to the CME Group's Fedwatch tool, the current implied probability of a hike from 0.50 to at least 0.75 is at 2 percent at the February meeting and 24 percent for the March meeting.

The precious metal was given support as the U.S. Dollar Index fell by 1.01 percent to 101.49 as of 1930 GMT. The index is a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies. Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors.

Gold was given further support as a report released on Thursday by the U.S.-based Automated Data Processing showed its ADP employment measure coming in at a 153,000 level. Analysts note that this was much weaker-than-expected and will likely influence expectations for the big jobs report due Friday.

Silver for March delivery added 8.5 cents, or 0.51 percent, to close at 16.637 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery rose 28.8 dollars, or 3.04 percent, to close at 976.00 dollars per ounce. Enditem