Gold futures fell on Wednesday with the U.S.dollar’s continued climb sinking prices for the yellow metal to their lowest level since early November.
Gold for April delivery GCJ5, +0.10% fell $9.50, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,150.60 an ounce on Comex. Based on the most-active contracts, prices haven’t settled at a level this low since Nov. 6. May silver SIK5, +0.49% dropped 26.8 cents, or 1.7%, to end at $15.365 an ounce.
Tokyo (Nikkei Average NIK, +1.36% ) up 1.4%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.43% ) up 0.3%
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +1.35% ) up 1.4% (at break)
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.94% ) up 0.9%
Seoul (Kospi SEU, +0.34% ) up 0.3%
Mumbai (Sensex 1, +0.73% ) up 0.5%
Taipei (Taiex Y9999, +0.76% ) up 0.8%
The dollar edged closer towards parity with the euro on Thursday after the European Central Bank kicked off its stimulus programme this week, while Asian equity markets recovered slightly from a recent sell-off.
Sydney shares were given a lift by data showing Australia's unemployment rate had eased slightly, while South Korea became the latest country to cut interest rates as it struggles to fight off deflation.
Tokyo rose 0.88 per cent, Sydney added 0.88 per cent while Seoul gained 0.22 per cent and Hong Kong put on 0.11 per cent.
Shanghai advanced 0.73 per cent.
