LONDON: Gold rebounded on Wednesday, a day after it posted its biggest one-day decline in nearly four months, as the coronavirus scare spurred safe-haven flows towards bullion and raised hopes of interest rate cuts by major central banks.

Spot gold rose 0.5 per cent to $1,643.70 per ounce by 1302 GMT, having slumped as much as 1.9pc in the previous session as investors took profits. US gold futures eased 0.2pc to $1,646.

Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, climbed to the highest since November 2016 at 940.09 tonnes on Tuesday.

Among other precious metals, palladium gained 1.4pc to $2,735.73 per ounce, while platinum fell 0.4pc to $921.91, having touched its lowest in two months earlier. Silver rose 0.2pc to $18.03 an ounce, having fallen as much as 4.1pc in the previous session.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2020