(Kitco News) – Not only has sentiment towards gold in the U.S. been positive as more investors are jumping on the gold bandwagon, but also investors elsewhere seem to be hopping on since the new year.
Gold, typically priced in U.S. dollar, has been rallying since the start of the year, up more than 7%. Wednesday, gold futures managed to hit another fresh three-month high as mixed U.S. economic data was released and the dollar weakened. April Comex gold futures were last quoted up $13.20 at $1,140.40 an ounce.
Gold and the greenback have historically been inversely correlated, so when the dollar moves higher, gold tends to suffer, and vice versa. Since the start of the year, the dollar index (DXY) has been struggling to breach the key 100 level, but is only down roughly 1.3%. However, on Wednesday, the DXY managed to post its largest daily loss since early December, which has helped push gold to levels last seen in early November.
“Solid losses in the U.S. dollar index and firmer crude oil prices are bullish ’outside markets’ that are working in favor of the precious metals bulls on this day,” noted Kitco’s senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff in his daily gold report.
Even New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley chimed in on the greenback Wednesday, noting that continued dollar strength could have “significant consequences” on the U.S. economy.
However, gold has not only shined in U.S. dollar terms as it has managed to see strength in other currencies. Based on Kitco’s Gold-Currency Charts, gold priced in both “hard” and “other” currencies have all posted gains in the last 30 days. The Kitco charts provide gold prices in multiple currency terms, including the U.S. dollar, euro (EUR), Swiss franc, British pound sterling (GBP), Japanese yen (JPY) and Russian ruble (RUB), among other currencies.
Kitco’s data shows that gold priced in the ruble led the pack, up 15.3% since early January. Coming in second was gold priced in Mexican pesos rose 12.28% while gold in South African rand terms rose 9.48%, taking third place.
The harder currencies, albeit lower, also saw significant gains. Based on the charts, spot gold priced in U.S. dollars rose a little over 5% in the last 30 days, while gold/EUR and gold/JPY saw gains of 4.32% and 5.54%, respectively. Meanwhile, gold/GBP and in franc terms posted gains of 7.18% and 6.87%, respectively.
By Sarah Benali of Kitco News; sbenali@kitco.com
Follow me on Twitter @SdBenali
