London - Gold rose for a sixth day, the longest advance in 10 months, as fading expectations for higher US rates hurt the dollar.
Bullion for immediate delivery climbed 0.3 percent to $1 159.55 an ounce at 11:28 a.m. in London. The metal gained 3.7 percent this week, the most in a month. Trading was light as investors waited for the release of the monthly US jobs report later Friday, said Thorsten Proettel, a commodities analyst at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.
“The most important factor playing on gold prices this week was weak data out of the U.S., which weighed on the dollar,” Proettel said by phone from Stuttgart, Germany.
The dollar’s retreat has been sparked by tepid US data, raising concern over the strength of the economy and damping expectations of further rate increases this year. The US economy probably added 190 000 jobs in January, down from 292 000 in December, according to economist estimates.
Holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded products rose 0.3 percent to 1,547.8 metric tons as of Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the 14th consecutive rise and the longest run since December 2012.
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Traders now see a less than 50 percent chance of a rate increase this year, down from 93 percent at the start of the year, futures data compiled by Bloomberg shows.
* Spot platinum was little changed at $909.63 an ounce, palladium rose 0.5 percent and silver climbed 0.2 percent.
* Precious metals trading on the Comex was thin. For this time of day, gold volumes were 11 percent below the 100-day average.
BLOOMBERG