Gold Rises as ECB Plans to Buy More Bonds Than Expected

Gold prices rose above $1,300 an ounce on Thursday, shaking off earlier losses, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi announced a bigger-than-expected bond-buying program.

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The most actively traded contract, for February delivery, was recently up $9.70, or 0.8%, at $1,303.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The ECB will buy €60 billion ($69 billion) of public and private sector debt a month, starting in March 2015 and continuing until September 2016. Although the introduction of a bond-purchasing program was widely expected, analysts and investors said the size was toward the upper end of expectations. Earlier, the ECB kept interest rates on hold at record lows, as expected.

The price of Japanese palladium bar closed as the biggest mover for Wednesday, January 21. Switching from a downward trend, the metal closed at JPY 2,946 ($24.83) per gram following a 2.3% increase. US palladium bar rose 2.2% to $774.00 per ounce. This marked the fifth day in a row of increasing prices and the improvement has accelerated since Thursday, January 15. Chinese palladium bar finished the day up 1.8% to CNY 174.00 ($28.00) per gram.

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US platinum bar saw its price rise 1.3% to $1,277 per ounce. At JPY 4,779 ($40.28), the price of Japanese platinum bar finished the market day up 1.0% per gram. Chinese platinum bar prices rose 0.7% to CNY 270.00 ($43.45) per gram.

US gold bullion prices inched up 1.6% to $1,294 per ounce. After a 1.5% increase, Chinese gold bullion finished the day at CNY 259.90 ($41.82) per gram. The price of Indian gold bullion increased 1.2% to INR 28,173 ($456.85) per 10 grams. Japanese gold bullion gained 1.0% to finish at JPY 4,846 ($40.84) per gram.

At INR 40,428 ($655.58), the price of Indian silver finished the market day up 1.9% per kilogram. US silver prices rose 1.7% to $17.98 per ounce. Chinese silver prices inched up 1.5% to CNY 3,765 ($605.85) per kilogram. The price of Japanese silver increased 1.1% to JPY 667.00 ($5.62) per 10 grams.

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