LONDON: Gold rose to around $1,300-an-ounce on Tuesday as the dollar and European shares fell, triggering further investment in physically-backed gold funds.

The metal has rallied around five per cent over the past few sessions to a 15-month high on Monday after the Federal Reserve’s cautious stance towards higher US rates, as well as a soaring yen, weighed on the dollar.

A weaker dollar makes gold cheaper for holders of foreign currencies.

Spot gold climbed 0.3pc to $1,294.96 an ounce by 1143 GMT, after earlier hitting a session high of $1,302.00. It reached its strongest since January 2015 at $1,303.60 an ounce on Monday.

The dollar weakness and strength in the gold price have triggered a sharp increase in money flowing into the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s top gold-backed exchange-traded fund.

Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.1pc, after hitting a 15-month high of $18 on Monday. Platinum climbed to a fresh 10-month high of $1,089.70 an ounce, while palladium fell 0.5pc to $614.97.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2016