Daily Gold Update

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold climbed another 0.5%, closing at a six-week high near $1,252, as news of additional stimulus in the Eurozone and better-than-forecast growth in China boosted commodity demand.

The ECB is considering plans to begin purchasing corporate bonds as early as December in order to revive the moribund Eurozone economy. The move would expand private-sector bond-purchases, which began on Monday, without the political complications of buying government bonds, something that Germany resists. Tantamount to printing money, the purchases are intended to combat deflation by stimulating inflation in the world's third largest economy.

Data showed China's GDP grew 7.3% in the third quarter, its weakest in five years but above the consensus forecast of 7.2%, and factory output rose by 8%. The Bloomberg Commodity Index gained nearly 0.8%, buoyed in part by optimism about higher factory demand from China. After announcing $80 billion in broad-based stimulus recently, the Chinese government is expected to extend additional support to targeted areas of the economy to increase growth.

Bloomberg reported that physical gold demand is rising in India as the festival of Diwali begins this week. Celebrated by more than 800 million Hindus, Diwali is considered an auspicious time to buy gold bullion and jewelry. Indian trade organizations expect gold imports to jump 75% this quarter, supporting higher global gold prices.

The other precious metals outpaced gold's gains. Silver rose more than 1% while platinum and palladium jumped nearly 1.2% and palladium surged 1.9%.

At the Comex close: December gold climbed $7 to $1,251.70; December silver rose 19 cents to $17.54; January platinum jumped $15 to $1,283; and December palladium surged $14.70 to $777 per ounce.