LONDON: Gold hit a two-week high on Thursday as the dollar fell and investors fretted over weak Chinese data and US-China trade frictions, though the precious metal’s upside was capped by a slightly more hawkish Federal Reserve. The dollar edged back against the euro as speculation grows the European Central Bank (ECB) will signal an end date for its vast stimulus programme at its policy meeting, giving back all its gains following Wednesday’s Fed meeting.

As widely expected, the Fed lifted key overnight borrowing costs by a quarter percentage point.

In other precious metals, silver climbed 0.7pc to $17.12 an ounce, having earlier hit $17.15 an ounce, its highest since April 20. Platinum was 0.9pc higher at $906.80 an ounce, while palladium gained 0.8pc to $1,016.90 per ounce.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2018