Gold was steady as trading began on Wall Street consolidating the gains following the spike yesterday brought on by renewed uncertainty over Portugal’s banking system.
Fears of another European banking crisis sent investors scurrying for safe havens, though after attempts to reassure markets today the spot price was little changed at US$1,334.
Banco Espirito Santo shares were suspended on fears over its exposure to Grupo Espirito Santo, where another subsidiary missed debt repayments, though today it said its total liability was US$1.6bn easing some of those worries.
It was another things for investors to chew over however as investors mulled the possibility of Israel invading Gaza, the problems in Iraq and renewed fighting in Ukraine.
Gold had already been boosted by the decision of the new Indian government not to cut import duty in its first budget, while minutes from the last US Federal meeting where as benign as expected.
Physical gold demand has been unexpectedly weak recently with Indian demand curbed by the government efforts to boost its trade deficit and Chinese buying under pressure due to the weakness of China’s currency.
Exchange traded funds hadseen gold flow back in recent days, but SPDR, the largest of the gold-backed ETFs saw their first outflows for almost a month on Thursday.
Silver was US$21.42, slightly higher, while platinum was flat at US$1,506.
Major movers
Randgold Resources down 110p at 5,125p
Fresnillo down 12p at 933p
Anglo American dwon 14p at 1,475p