Gold at record as dollar drops
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gold rose to another record high on Wednesday, and the dollar dropped to a 15-month low against a basket of currencies after a batch of U.S. data indicated the economic recovery was strengthening.
The data showing positive trends in the housing and labor markets and in consumer spending helped lift U.S. and European shares while driving government bond markets lower.
The dollar's drop ahead of Thursday's U.S. Thanksgiving Day also reflected the U.S. Federal Reserve minutes released on Tuesday that voiced increased confidence in the U.S. economic recovery and Russia's announcement it would diversify some foreign exchange reserves into Canadian dollars.
Federal Reserve officials said the recent fall in the foreign exchange value of the dollar had been "orderly," and appeared to reflect an unwinding of safe-haven demand, according to minutes from the U.S. central bank's latest policy meeting held in early November.
Even so, gold, which is considered a safe-haven in times of uncertainty, was the standout performer of the day as the weak dollar supported commodity prices. Gold was also fueled by a published report that India's central bank was interested in buying more gold beyond the 200 tons it purchased earlier this month from the International Monetary Fund. The IMF had no comment.
"Most commodities are rallying on the back of the weaker dollar, and that move is potentially quite significant," said Standard Chartered analyst Daniel Smith in London.
"Gold has been outperforming on the back of this general rally in commodities, and that tells us that there is more to this than just the dollar story," he said.
Spot gold prices rose $20.70, or 1.77 percent, to a record high of $1190.00. Silver was on track to close at a 16-month high, near $18.81.
The dollar was down against a basket of major trading-partner currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index .DXY down 1.10 percent at 74.241 from a previous session close of 75.068.
The euro was up 1.20 percent at $1.514 from a previous session close of $1.4960. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was down 1.40 percent at 87.32 from a previous session close of 88.560.
Dubai's government helped put the brakes on the dollar's slide after it said it will ask creditors of its two flagship firms for a standstill on debt worth billions of dollars as a first step toward restructuring Dubai World, a conglomerate that spearheaded the emirates' breakneck growth.
"The Dubai news was a surprise and helped halt the rally in the euro against the dollar as traders took some of their risky assets off the table," said Steven Butler, director of FX trading at Scotia Capital in Toronto.
U.S. stocks rose modestly in very light trade ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, supported by the data showing the recovery gaining traction and as natural resource shares gained with the weak dollar.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 30.69 points, or 0.29 percent, at 10,464.40, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 4.98 points, or 0.45 percent, at 1,110.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 6.87 points, or 0.32 percent, at 2,176.05.
MSCI's all-country world equities index .MIWD00000PUS rose nearly 1 percent, while European shares .FTEU3 added 0.5 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 index .N225 gained 0.4 percent, pulling back from a four-month low hit earlier in the session after the index did not break below its 200-day moving average. MSCI's emerging markets stock index rose 0.7 percent .MSCIEF.
U.S. light sweet crude oil increased 2.41 percent to $77.85 per barrel.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries rose 11/32 of a point in price, moving the yield to 3.26 percent, after a strong auction of $32 billion of seven-year notes, while the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond was up 10/32, with the yield at 4.2279 percent.
It was a different story at the short end of the Treasury yield curve. The two-year U.S. Treasury note was down 1/32, but with its yield at only 0.7382 percent.
(Additional reporting by Reuters correspondents worldwide; editing by Leslie Adler
