Investing.com - Gold prices extended gains from the previous session to hit a nine-week high on Monday, as ongoing turbulence in emerging markets boosted the safe haven appeal of the precious metal.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery rose to a session high of USD1,279.20 a troy ounce, the strongest level since November 18, before trimming gains to trade at USD1,269.20 a troy ounce during European morning trade, up 0.4%.
The April contract settled 0.16% higher on Friday to end at USD1,264.50. Futures were likely to find support at USD1,230.80 a troy ounce, the low from January 23 and resistance at USD1,287.70, the high from November 18.
Ongoing turmoil in emerging markets continued to boost gold’s safe haven appeal. The precious metal rallied sharply on Friday as investors fleeing risk in emerging markets saw gold as an attractive venue.
Emerging market currencies have been hard hit since the Federal Reserve announced plans last month to begin scaling back its asset purchase program.
The Turkish lira fell to the latest in a series of record lows against the dollar on Friday, while South Africa’s rand, the Russian ruble and the Argentine peso fell to multi-year lows against the greenback.
Investors were looking ahead to the outcome of the Fed’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, amid expectations for a reduction in its bond buying program to USD65 billion from the current USD75 billion.
The policy meeting will mark the last for outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, as current Vice Chair Janet Yellen prepares to take over.
Data from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission released Friday showed that hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish bets in gold futures in the week ending January 21.
Net longs totaled 43,353 contracts as of last week, compared to 43,277 in the preceding week.
Meanwhile, silver for March delivery advanced 0.8% to trade at USD19.92 a troy ounce. Comex silver prices held in a range between UDF19.82 a troy ounce and USD20.07.
The March silver contract ended Friday’s session down 1.22% to settle at USD19.76 a troy ounce.
Elsewhere on the Comex, copper futures for March delivery fell 0.25% to trade at USD3.263 a pound, the lowest since December 10.
Copper prices remained under pressure after data last week pointed to a steeper than expected slowdown in Chinese manufacturing. The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.