Ukraine, Russia Tension Drives Gold Price Up

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Gold futures at the COMEX New York Mercantile Exchange has been on the rebound since Thursday, fueled by investors' fear of increasing tension between Ukraine and Russia, and amidst the underperformance of the United States (US) share market.

The price for December deliveries went up the most - increasing by US$7 or 0.55 percent to trade at US$1,290.4 per ounce, as reported by Xinhua.

Prices had peaked at US$1,297.6 per ounce immediately after President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia of preparing to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but eased following the release of the second revision of US' economic data for the second quarter of 2014, which showed that the US' economy is recovering faster than previously expected.

According to the revised data released on Thursday, the US' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at a robust 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2104, exceeding the expectations of market analyst and the US Department of Trade, which had predicted that the GDP will grow by four percent in the second quarter.

Furthermore, according to the US Department of Labour, the amount of Americans claiming unemployment benefits in the week that ended on August 23 has fallen by 1,000 to 298,000 - after seasonal adjustments.

Silver deliveries for December rose by 13.4 cents or 0,69 percent to close at US$ 19.609 per ounce. October deliveries of platinum went up by US$ 5.3 or 0,37 percent to trade at US$1,425.2 per ounce.

ANTARANEWS