Gold Gains in Asia as Global Equities Rally, Dollar Declines

By Glenys Sim

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Gold gained for a second day in Asia as global equities rallied and as the dollar weakened on speculation the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates today.

The ICE futures exchange's U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against six trading partners, fell for the first day in four as the euro rebounded from its weakest level since April 2006 and the pound snapped a seven-day decline. Bullion is down 14 percent this month as the index climbed 7.9 percent.

``Gold has been tracking dollar moves very closely in the past few months, and the outlook for the currency is not good especially on expectations of a rate cut ahead,'' Lin Haoxiang, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities, said from Shanghai.

Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as 1.5 percent to $758.09 an ounce before trading at $751.52 at 2:54 p.m. in Singapore. Silver for immediate delivery was little changed at $9.2062 an ounce.

``Going forward, gold will continue to benefit from its safe haven status as the U.S. economy is expected to remain in a slump,'' said Lin.

Asian stocks gained, building on a global rally, amid speculation Japan will cut rates and China will take steps to boost its markets, joining governments around the world in efforts to revive confidence in financial markets. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 3.6 percent to 80.53 as of 2:59 p.m. in Singapore, extending yesterday's 3.4 percent rise.

Fed Decision

Sentiment in the gold market remained weak and investors are still watching other financial markets including equities and bonds to discern trends in bullion prices, K C Wong, trader at Standard Bank Asia Ltd., said by phone from Singapore today.

The Fed has already cut the benchmark rate from 5.25 percent in the past 13 months and created six lending programs channeling more than $1 trillion into the financial system. Banks are still reluctant to lend to each other and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index is down almost 36 percent this year, even after yesterday's surge.

The FOMC is scheduled to announce its decision on rates at about 2:15 p.m. in Washington.

Futures on the Chicago Board of Trade show a 38 percent chance the benchmark rate will be cut to 0.75 percent from 1.5 percent. The odds increased from 34 percent a day before.

Gold for December delivery rose 1.3 percent to $749.80 an ounce in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, and gold for August delivery in Tokyo added 2.7 percent to 2,322 yen a gram ($749 ounce).

To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net