Gold rises B100 to B19,400

Gold prices climbed 100 baht at its opening on Saturday.

The Gold Traders Association announced the buying price at 19,300 baht and the selling price at 19,400 baht per baht-weight for gold bars.

For ornaments, the buying and selling prices were 19,025.80 baht and 19,800 baht per baht-weight respectively.

The prices changed four times on Friday, ending up 100 baht from the previous day.

In world markets, Bloomberg reported from New York gold capped the biggest weekly rally since mid-January after an unexpected drop in US consumer confidence revived speculation that the Federal Reserve will wait longer before raising interest rates.

Sputtering growth has taken the lustre off the dollar’s rally in the past month, boosting demand for bullion as an alternative. Fed officials will probably cut their forecasts for expansion when they gather next month, a Bloomberg survey of economists showed. The University of Michigan preliminary index of sentiment dropped in May by the most since December 2012.

“The data has been very disappointing, to say the least,” Phil Streible, a senior commodity broker at R.J. O’Brien & Associates in Chicago, said. “This kind of data is making more people jittery about when the rate hike will be announced.”

Cooling US expansion is a boon to gold because it’s traditionally sought as a haven during times of economic turmoil. A weaker outlook is more likely to push Fed officials to delay tightening, increasing the chances that inflation can rebound. Higher rates also cut bullion’s allure because the metal doesn’t pay interest, unlike competing assets such as new bonds.

Gold futures for June delivery rose less than 0.1% to settle at $1,225.30 an ounce at 1.40pm on the Comex in New York. Prices climbed 2.9% this week, the most since Jan. 16.

Factory output

US factory production stalled in April, as American manufacturers were dealt blows by a strong dollar and cheap oil, a Fed report showed on Friday.

The metal posted a second straight weekly gain, and on Thursday touched $1,227.70, the highest for a most-active contract since Feb 17.