Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Gold held an advance after minutes from a Federal Reserve meeting signaled officials are unlikely to raise U.S. interest rates at their next meeting in June.

Bullion for immediate delivery traded at $1,210.15 an ounce at 2:23 p.m. in Singapore from $1,209.80 on Wednesday, when prices rose 0.2 percent, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. Gold in Shanghai advanced after a two-day decline.

Many Fed officials thought economic data available in June wouldn’t be robust enough to warrant raising rates for the first time since 2006, according to the minutes released Wednesday of the April 28-29 session. The minutes also confirmed that the Fed expects growth to pick up after stalling in the first quarter. The next signal of the central bank’s intentions will come on Friday, when Chair Janet Yellen gives a speech on the economic outlook in Providence, Rhode Island.

“Gold found some support after the FOMC minutes indicated the Fed won’t raise rates at the June meeting,” Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said in a note. “The tone of the minutes echoed the more sober assessment of economic activity evident in the April FOMC statement and the March meeting.”

The Federal Open Market Committee next meets June 16-17.

Gold for June delivery rose 0.1 percent to $1,209.40 an ounce on the Comex. Holdings in exchange-traded products fell a third day on Wednesday to 1,603.1 metric tons, the lowest since January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bullion of 99.99 percent purity increased 0.3 percent to 241.85 yuan a gram ($1,212.74 an ounce) on the Shanghai Gold Exchange.

Silver for immediate delivery climbed 0.4 percent to $17.1885 an ounce. Platinum was little changed at $1,155.68 an ounce, while palladium lost 0.3 percent to $775.42 an ounce.