Gold News & Info

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold gained nearly 1% to close just under $1,242, its highest finish in three weeks, as mixed U.S. economic data and a lower dollar helped to boost safe-haven demand.

The Federal Reserve's Beige Book showed tepid conditions in all twelve Fed regions in February, with growth falling in nine, reinforcing the view that the central bank is in no hurry to raise interest rates again soon. The dollar slipped 0.1% against major rivals, supporting gold and other commodities denominated in it for international trade.

The market largely ignored ADP's report that U.S. private employers added a solid 214,000 jobs in February, in line with most forecasts. Totals were January were revised lower by 12,000 to 193,000. The better data lends hope for improvement in the more authoritative U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, due on Friday.

U.S. equities vacillated between gains and losses on the mixed data while European and Asian markets enjoyed solid gains behind expectations of additional stimulus from the ECD and BOJ in coming weeks.

The other precious metals were mixed, with silver jumping 1.8% while platinum and palladium slipped 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively.

At the Comex close: April gold gained $11 to $1,241.80; May silver jumped 27 cents to $15.02; April platinum dipped 50 cents to $936.20; and June palladium lost $2.05 to $515.30 an ounce.