Shortcovering was the Friday buzzword in Asian time zones and the gold price was more likely to climb up than slide down in the near term despite bearishness lingering in the markets, gold traders in Asia said.
I think the last two to three dollars (increase in gold prices) have basically been shortcovering, said a senior trader at an international bullion firm in Hong Kong. Hong Kong gold opened sharply up at $353.15/65, compared to New Yorks Thursday close at at $351.25/75 per ounce. We opened with massive shortcovering from funds, they were all very eager to get their positions back in, and under $350 per ounce, there was huge buying, a trader said.
Singapore and Hong Kong traders said gold had also borrowed some short-term momentum from silvers rally. Silver was very active last night, it had a very sharp rally and sort of dragged gold back up as well.
