By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - It may be the new way forward for gold.
After the flash and dazzle of $50 daily gains or prices above $2,000, the haven seems to have settled into a calmer mode of tacking on a little bit — like $10 — at a time.
For a third day in a row, U.S. gold for December delivery settled up on New York’s Comex, rising an average of 0.5% on the day. The latest session’s gain was $9.40 to bring a settlement of $1,964.30 per ounce. Since its last negative close of $1,937.10 on Sept. 7, December gold has risen just over $27.
Thursday’s rise came on the back of a volatile dollar, which initially tumbled against the euro after comments by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde that were deemed as hawkish for the single currency.
The ECB did not discuss an expansion of the 1.35 trillion-euro pandemic purchase program and wasn’t eyeing a specific level for the euro, as markets had thought. Lagarde’s comments added to a mostly constructive ECB policy that came with an upward 2020 GDP revision and an easing of deflationary concerns.
The ECB action drove the euro down and the Dollar Index down below the key 93-handle, before the greenback clawed back early losses to return to the positive late afternoon in New York.
The spot price of gold, which reflects real-time trades in bullion, was at $1,949.63 by 4:30 PM ET (20:30 GMT) Wednesday, showing a gain of $3.01, or 0.2%. It hit a session high of $1,966.45 as the Dollar Index hit its lows for the day.
Despite the three-day win, gold is still way below Comex’s record highs of nearly $2,090 and bullion’s peak of 2,073.41, both hit on Aug. 7.
It remains to be seen if the yellow metal can grow out of its slow and steady rise to recapture its previous momentum of $50-per-day gains and $2,000 and above pricing.