Gold futures ticked higher in electronic trading during Asian hours Monday, as optimism for more U.S. bond buying supported the precious metal at around six-month highs. Gold for December delivery GCZ2 rose $1.00 to $1,741.30 an ounce in electronic action on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold had soared $34.90, or 2.1%, to end the session at $1,740.50 an ounce on Friday, marking its highest settlement since late February. For the previous week, gold climbed 3.1%, helped after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi detailed plans Thursday to assist struggling euro-zone economies through bond purchases. “[The] decisions have underlined the ECB's willingness to do everything it can to rescue the euro. Since this will inevitably result in higher inflation, gold should profit," said commodity strategists at Commerzbank. Also helping gold last week, data out Friday showed that U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 96,000 in August, well below market estimates for about 125,000. The data “only increases the probability that the [U.S. Federal Reserve] will launch a third round of large-scale asset purchases" at its meeting later this week, according to economists at Capital Economics. Copper for December delivery HGZ2 rose 1 cent to $3.65 per pound in electronic trading, while December silver SIZ2 climbed 27 cents to $33.96 an ounce Platinum for October delivery PLV2 climbed $6.10 to $1602.40 an ounce, and the December contract for sister metal palladium PAZ2 rose $6.25 to $661.00 an ounce. Marketwatch
