Gold caps longest 6-week rally on Ukraine-Russia tensions

Investors are putting their faith back into gold, spurring the longest price rally in six weeks.

Futures rose for a third straight day amid reignited tension in Eastern Europe. Bullion reached a six-month high after Russia annexed Crimea last month, and then fell almost nine per cent on signs that peace would return. Hostilities this week are bringing back the gold bulls.

The metal has risen 8.2 per cent this year as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine spurs traders to unwind bets on a drop, even as signs of improving US economic growth push the Federal Reserve to reduce stimulus. Gold slid 28 per cent in 2013, partly because the outlook for the Fed to scale back bond purchases dimmed the appeal of bullion as an inflation hedge.

"The market has gotten very nervous over this situation," Bill O'Neill, a partner at Logic Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, said in a telephone interview. "What we're seeing here is some recent shorts, based on technical selling, have come back to cover their positions."

Gold futures for June delivery rose 0.8 per cent to settle at $1,300.80 an ounce at 1:45 pm on the Comex in New York, a third straight gain and the longest rally since March 14. Prices climbed 0.7 per cent in the previous two sessions.

Bullion jumped 70 per cent from December 2008 to June 2011 as the Fed bought debt and cut rates to a record in a bid to boost the US economy.

In China, volumes for the benchmark spot gold contract in Shanghai rose to a two-month high on Thursday.

SPDR holdings
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange- traded product backed by the metal, were unchanged for a third day on Thursday at 792.14 tonnes. The assets fell 41 per cent last year.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, palladium futures for June delivery rose 1.1 per cent to $811.20 an ounce. Russia is the world's biggest producer of the metal used in catalytic converters to reduce automobile emissions.

Platinum futures for July delivery advanced 1 percent to $1,424.30 an ounce. The largest platinum companies said they will put their latest pay offer directly to striking South African workers, bypassing their union after talks to end the 13-week walkout failed.

Silver futures for July delivery gained less than 0.1 per cent to $19.718 an ounce on the Comex.