Gold is rising on virus fears in Europe

Gold prices rose today, Thursday, as an increase in Covid-19 infections in Europe fueled concerns about the pace of the economy's recovery, but the rise of the dollar curbed the gains of the yellow metal.

Spot gold rose 0.1 percent to $ 1736.51 an ounce by 0533 GMT.

And US gold futures rose 0.2 percent to $ 1736.50 an ounce.

"At those levels, gold might get some safe haven purchases now, which is a change from what we were seeing just a few days ago," said CMC Markets senior market strategist Michael McCarthy.

"One of the issues with gold is that there seem to be two camps, one for those worried about new closures in Europe ... and another for those who take a very positive view of the economic outlook," he added, adding that both opposing perceptions are reasonably supportive of gold.

Gold is also considered a hedge against inflation, which is usually lifted by broad-based stimulus aimed at boosting economic growth.

Yesterday, Wednesday, members of the Federal Reserve indicated that the US central bank will start raising interest rates depending on the economic results and that it will not reduce its easing monetary policy until it witnesses an actual improvement.

Gold's gains were limited by a jump in the dollar index to a new peak in four months due to concerns about an extension of the economic lockdown measures in Europe and a possible increase in taxes in the United States.

As for the other precious metals, palladium fell 0.1% to $ 2,631.91 and platinum rose 0.2% to $ 1,170.

Silver rose 0.2 percent to $ 25.12, after falling to its lowest level in more than two weeks, recording $ 24.93 earlier in the session.

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