Investing.com - Gold held gains Asia on Wednesday after solid China data sets on GDP, output and retail sales.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.12% to $1,264.45 a troy ounce. Also on the Comex, silver futures for December delivery gained 0.11% to $17.657 a troy ounce, while copper futures increased 0.14% to $2.105 a pound.
China reported third quarter GDP with a quarter-on-quarter gain of 1.8% meeting expectations along with a year-on-year pace of 6.7% along with solid figures for retail sales, industrial output and fixed asset investment.
China is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for nearly 45% of world consumption.
Overnight, gold prices added to overnight gains in North American trade on Tuesday, as disappointing U.S. inflation data was seen as easing pressure on the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy, weighing on the dollar.
The U.S. Commerce Department said that consumer prices inched up 0.3% in September, matching expectations and up from 0.2% in the preceding month. Year-over-year, consumer prices increased 1.5% last month, after having risen 1.1% in August. That was its highest reading since October 2014.
Meanwhile, CPI, excluding the volatile food and energy components, rose 0.1%, missing forecasts for 0.2% and slowing from 0.3% a month earlier. In the 12 months through September, core CPI advanced 2.2%.
The disappointing report led investors to push back expectations for the next U.S. rate hike. Markets are currently pricing in a 69.5% chance of a rate hike at December's meeting, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Gold is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion. A gradual path to higher rates is seen as less of a threat to gold prices than a swift series of increases.