Gold Prices Jump More Than 1%; Silver Prices also Gain

Gold prices recovered sharply on Wednesday as strong physical side demand boosted metal’s speculative buying while rising expectations that the European Central Bank could further slash its prime lending rate following two back-to-back disappointing German economic indicators, also increased somewhat metal’s inflation-hedge appeal. Silver prices also edged higher on Wednesday.

At last check, U.S. gold futures for June delivery climbed 1.28% to $1,426.90 an ounce while spot gold jumped 1.15% to $1,428.51 an ounce.

The demand for gold bars and coins continued to remain strong in Asia as dealers and investors pounced on the opportunity after the metal monetarily plunged to its two-year low level, last week. Premium on gold bars in Asia climbed to multi-month high against spot prices in London with many suppliers running out of the stock. According to Reuters, dealers in Asia are expecting that demand from India, which is the world’s top importer of gold, will improve significantly towards the month-end as the country will celebrate a Hindu gold buying festival, “Akshaya Tritya” in May.

“There has been quite a lot of support coming from the physical demand, which has been extremely strong since the sell-off and I think that will continue in coming sessions, putting a floor to prices around $1,400,” said Peter Fertig, consultant at Quantative Commodity Research, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, speculation is rife that the European Central Bank (ECB) could cut its benchmark interest rate when it meets for its next policy rate meeting in May. Following dismal composite PMI data release on Tuesday, the German ifo Index, a gauge on business sentiment also fell unexpectedly in April. Several policymakers from the ECB have hinted at potential rate cuts in case economic indicators warrant it, which in turn will be gold supportive.

Central bank’s accommodating policies tends to boost the demand for inflation-hedge assets such as gold.

The holdings of SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD) continued to decline on Tuesday. A data provided by Reuters showed that the fund’s holdings dropped another 0.68% to 1,097.19 tons on Tuesday from 1,104.71 tons on Monday, which is the lowest level since October 2009.

Silver futures gained 0.60% to $22.96 an ounce.

In late trading, the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) was up 0.41%, and the ProShares Ultra Silver (ETF) (NYSE: AGQ) was up 0.71%.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.