Gold rises to six-week high as dollar drops after Fed statement

By Nithin ThomasPrasad

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold rose for a second day on Thursday, hitting a six-week high, on rising demand for the yellow metal as the dollar dropped to a 13-month low after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated that it would keep to a slow path of monetary tightening.

The Fed's statement followed a two-day policy meeting that ended on Wednesday where the central bank kept interest rates unchanged but expected to start winding down its massive holdings of bonds "relatively soon."

The decline in the greenback is a boon for dollar-denominated gold since it makes buying the metal less expensive for investors paying in other currencies.

"We think that gold has turned something of a corner and may now be in a position to retest its recent highs," said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.

"With the Fed now likely on hold at least till the end of the year and U.S. bond yields falling, there are some forming tail-winds that should propel prices higher over the short term," Meir said.

Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,264.31 per ounce at 0352 GMT. It climbed as high as $1,264.90 an ounce earlier in the session, the most since June 15.

U.S. gold futures for August delivery rose 1.2 percent to $1,264 per ounce.

On Thursday, the dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was at a 13-month low, while U.S. Treasury prices gained after the Fed's policy statement was perceived to be dovish.

"Investors have gradually priced in the whole event and considering that the Fed sees the near-term risk of the economy is neutral, I don't think the market will expect a third rate hike in the foreseeable future or at least in this quarter," said Mark To, head of research at Hong Kong's Wing Fung Financial Group.

"So, gold investors have reason to be bullish just a little bit."

Gold is sensitive to rising U.S. interest rates, as these increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, while boosting the greenback, in which it is priced.

Spot gold may break a resistance at $1,264 per ounce and rise more to the next resistance at $1,271, according to Reuters technical analyst, Wang Tao.

Meanwhile, holdings at the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.63 percent to 795.42 tonnes on Wednesday from 800.45 tonnes on Tuesday.

In other precious metals, silver rose 0.6 percent to $16.73 per ounce and hit its highest since June 29 earlier in the session.

Platinum rose 0.4 percent to $932.80 per ounce, while palladium edged up 0.1 percent to $866 per ounce. .

(Reporting by Nithin Prasad and Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford and Christian Schmollinger)