Finance

Finance

Gold prices advance on volatile US stocks

06 February 2009 10:47 (UTC +04:00)

Bakuâ€“ APA-Economics. Gold prices advanced Thursday, as another volatile day on Wall Street sent investors in search of safe-haven investments, Forbes reported.
Gold prices have been inching higher in recent weeks as other commodities suffer from concerns that a worsening economy will hamper demand. The contract is up 3.4 percent so far this year, and has closed above $900 in five of the last six sessions.
Investors often turn to gold in times of economic uncertainty as the investment tends to depreciate less than others.
The market has been on edge recently as investors await more details from the government on a proposed stimulus bill. Wall Street has also been anxious ahead of the administrationâ€™s unveiling next week of a new framework for spending whatâ€™s left of the $700 billion financial industry bailout which Congress passed last year.
All the while, investors have been bombarded by downbeat economic readings and lackluster corporate earnings. Early Thursday, stocks retreated following disappointing reports on factory orders and unemployment claims. But Wall Street rebounded later in the day as better-than-expected reports from a handful of major retailers pushed stocks higher.
The major indexes gained more than 1 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which rose 106 points to 8,063. The Dow lost as much as 111 points earlier in the session.
Gold for April delivery rose $12 to settle at $914.20 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.