Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Gold rose for the first time in four days after holdings in exchange-traded products backed by bullion saw the largest increase in more than six weeks. Silver climbed the most in a week.

Gold-backed ETP holdings increased by 3.9 metric tons, the most since Feb. 23, to 1,620.1 tons, according to data collated by Bloomberg as of Thursday.

“Yesterday we saw some strong inflows into ETFs,” Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG, said by phone from Frankfurt. “It may be that investors are seeing value below $1,200. What is remarkable is that gold is advancing despite a stronger dollar.”

Bullion for immediate delivery gained 0.7 percent to $1,202.93 an ounce at 12:08 p.m. in London trading. It touched $1,192.74 on Thursday, the lowest since April 1, after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting fueled concern that policy makers are moving closer to raising interest rates. The metal has declined 0.4 percent this week, the first weekly drop since March 13.

Gold for June delivery increased 0.8 percent to $1,202.70 on the Comex in New York, where futures trading volume was about 11 percent lower than the average for the past 100 days for this time of day.

ETP holdings increased by 21.7 tons so far this year after declining 164.4 tons in 2014, a second annual drop. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the greenback’s strength against 10 major counterparts, climbed a second day, gaining 0.2 percent. Bullion typically moves inversely to the U.S. currency.

Silver for immediate delivery rose 2 percent to $16.5264 an ounce. It gained as much as 2.4 percent, the most since April 3. Holdings in silver-backed ETPs gained 4.7 tons on Thursday.

Palladium advanced 0.7 percent to $768.65 an ounce, heading for a second weekly gain. Platinum climbed 0.9 percent to $1,166.75 an ounce.