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Gold today gained as a weaker dollar and concern about unrest in the Middle East stepped up demand for the metal as an alternative investment.
Gold gained 0.5 per cent to $1,723.50 an ounce while silver added 0.9 per cent to $32.61 an ounce.
The US Dollar Index, a measure against six major trading partners, fell amid prospects US lawmakers will reach an agreement on the nation’s budget and avert the so-called fiscal cliff, a collection of automatic spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to occur at year-end.
Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the army was prepared to invade the Gaza Strip for the first time in almost four years.
Holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded products rose 4 tons to a record 2,603.7 tons. Assets and prices gained this year as central banks from the US to Asia took steps to bolster economies.
Hedge funds increased bets on rising gold prices for the first time in five weeks, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. They raised their net-long position by 7.7 per cent to 140,162 futures and options in the week to Nov. 13.
The escalating conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, threatens a region still unbalanced after a wave of popular uprisings last year.
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