Gold climbs for first time in four days after ETP holdings rise

LONDON: Gold today 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.

Gold gained 0.7 per cent to $1,202.93 an ounce. It touched $1,192.74 on Thursday, the lowest since April 1, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting fuelled concern that policy makers are moving closer to raising interest rates.

The metal has declined 0.4 per cent this week, the first weekly drop since March 13.

Also, silver rose 2 per cent to $16.52 an ounce. Holdings in silver-backed ETPs gained 4.7 tonnes on Thursday. Platinum climbed 0.9 per cent to $1,166.75 an ounce.

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

Meanwhile, 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 the second day, gaining 0.2 per cent. Bullion typically moves inversely to the US currency.