BENGALURU: Gold rose on Thursday, climbing above $1,200 per ounce as sliding global stock markets prompted risk-wary investors to seek out the metal, with a softer dollar also supporting prices.

Spot gold gained 0.8 per cent to $1,203.92 an ounce by 1149 GMT. US gold futures added 1.2pc to $1,207.40 an ounce.

European stocks fell in line with a slump on Wall Street, pointing to growing risk aversion across global markets and turning greater attention to US inflation data later in the day for clues on the pace of monetary tightening.

“Gold is finding a bit of support from the global sell-off seen in equities. If this (sell-off) persists, we will start seeing more of a move to gold as a safe-haven asset,” ING analyst Warren Patterson said. “Rising US yields and general strength in the dollar have meant that investors have largely ignored gold.”

Spot silver rose 0.9pc to $14.38 an ounce, while palladium was up 1.1pc at $1,078.30. Platinum edged up 0.2pc to $820.50 an ounce.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2018