Gold futures traded near the 4-month high
The gold futures are traded near the 4-month high after the demand for the precious metal remained supported amid renewed concerns about the health of the banking sector in Portugal, as well as signs that US interest rates will remain unchanged for a long period of time. The gold price with August delivery erased 0.13% on Friday to 1,321.30 USD per ounce. A day earlier, on Thursday, the metal rose to its highest level since March 19th to a level of 1,339.20 USD per ounce. On a weekly basis gold advanced 1.2%, registering a sixth weekly increase.
The price of the yellow metal rose more than 1% on Thursday after concerns about the fiscal stability of Banco Espirito Santo (BES) have fueled the demand for safe assets amid fears about the risk of problems in the sector. Concerns fell slightly on Friday, after the Bank of Portugal said it was satisfied with the condition of the creditor.
Meanwhile, following the meeting minutes of the US Federal Reserve released on Wednesday showed that the central bank does not rush into raising interest rates. It said officials would end the program to buy assets in October, if the economy develops as expected of the institution. CFTC data have indicated that hedge funds have extended their bullish bets in gold contracts in the week ended July 8th. The net trades reached 144,272 contracts compared with 136,929 in the previous week. Meanwhile the silver with September delivery fell 0.22% to 21.46 USD per ounce. The price rose to 21.63 USD per ounce on Thursday, most of March 16th, before settling at 21.50 USD per ounce. On a weekly basis silver contracts for September delivery rose 1.21%, taking into account the sixth consecutive weekly gain. The data from the CFTC showed that тхе net silver contracts reached 44,517 after 36,697 weeks earlier.
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