Gold prices rose slightly today

Gold futures again traded in the green zone after a moderate decline in the first half of trading, despite the significant strengthening of the US dollar.

"Concerns about China's support gold in the beginning of the year, but now has increased the influence of other factors. Expectation of rising inflation in the United States and the possibility of negative interest rates in Japan and the eurozone This should increase the demand for gold, - said an analyst at Capital Economics Simon Gambarini - Gold can. rise in price to $ 1,350 per troy ounce. "

This year gold has risen in price by 18%, as investors prefer safe assets on the background of anxiety in relation to a global economic slowdown. Meanwhile, expectations that the Fed will stick to a cautious approach to tightening monetary policy, also support the demand for the precious metal. Recall increase in interest rates will boost the dollar, making it more attractive to investors, but it will put pressure on gold, making it more expensive for buyers in other currencies.

Little influenced by the current US statistics. The National Association of Realtors reported that home sales in the secondary market rose in March and were slightly higher compared with a year earlier. The total volume of home sales in the secondary market jumped 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate reached 5.33 million compared with the revised downward the level of 5.07 million in February. Sales rose in all four major regions last month and were 1.5 percent higher than in March 2015.

Lawrence Yun, the NAR chief economist, said that home sales in the secondary market showed a good recovery in March following an uncharacteristically large decline in February. Total reserves of housing in the end of March increased by 5.9 percent to 1.98 million homes, but still 1.5 percent lower than a year ago (2.01 million). At the current sales rate 4.5 months is required to sell stocks in the market, as compared with 4.4 months in February.

The cost of the June gold futures on the COMEX today rose by $ 1.2 to $ 1255.5 per ounce.