Gold Climbs to Three-Week High – by Stephanie Yang and Katherine Dunn (Wall Street Journal – January 3, 2017)

http://www.wsj.com/

Gold prices closed at a three-week high on Tuesday, reversing losses from a rising U.S. dollar amid renewed investor interest in the new year.

Gold for February delivery settled up 0.9% at $1,162.00 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since Dec. 14. The metal spent the holidays in a narrow trading range and ended the year up about 8% despite a sharp selloff in the final three months of 2016.

On Tuesday morning, the precious metal came under pressure from a stronger dollar and rising stock markets in the U.S., but recovered as the dollar came off its highs, said Peter Hug, global trading director at Kitco Metals.

The WSJ Dollar Index was recently up 0.2% at 93.48, but rose as high as 93.94. With many market participants still out from the holiday weekend, gold’s moves were likely to be exacerbated by a lack of buyers and sellers, Mr. Hug said.

“The market is relatively still thin,” he said. “In the short term this is all dollar-related.” However, interest in gold has picked up from bargain hunters and hedgers who have put on new positions, said George Gero, managing director at RBC Wealth Management.

For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/gold-falls-as-rate-rises-loom-1483460200