Gold Prices Inch Up; Fed’s Stance on Rates Could Push Prices Up, Analyst Says

London (April 17)  Prices of safe-haven gold edged up on Wednesday in Asia, but still traded below the $1,300 level as investors returned to a risk-on mode after the release of some upbeat Chinese economic data.

Gold futures for June delivery, traded on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, were up 0.1%, at $1,278.85 per ounce by 11:17 PM ET (03:17 GMT).

The gain in gold prices came even after official data showed China's economy grew 6.4% in the first quarter of 2019 from a year earlier. Analysts have previously expected the growth to slow to 6.3%.

The country’s industrial production and retail sales also outperformed, data showed.

Prices of the safe-haven metal lost momentum earlier this week as economic reports out of China and the U.S. were better than expected, easing investors’ concern over a global economic growth slowdown.

However, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s aggressive stance on interest rates, in addition to geopolitical issues including the trade war between the U.S. and China, could push gold prices higher this year, said Martin Huxley, global head of precious metals at INTL FCStone in a CNBC report.

“The view is that there won’t be any interest rate rises this year, which again will be supportive for the precious metals sector,” Huxley said.

“Over the second half of the year we expect it then to grind higher, and potentially it could test $1,400 towards the end of the year.”

Investing.com