Gold prices continued to rise today,

Gold prices rose moderately, reaching a new three-week high, helped by the strengthening of demand for safe-haven assets due to concerns about the negative yield of government bonds on the international markets, the Fed meeting, as well as a referendum in Britain.

Precious metal, which is often seen as insurance against economic and financial problems, increased by almost 2 percent this week after a weaker-than-expected data on the US labor market have sharply reduced the chances of an early increase in interest rates the US Fed. Meanwhile, recent comments by Fed chief also confirmed the intention of the Central Bank to postpone the rate hike as long as the uncertainty about the economic outlook does not shatter. Today futures on interest rates Fed indicate that the probability of a rate hike of 2% in June. The chances of an increase in rates are estimated at 23% in July. Recall, the higher interest rates in the US have a negative impact on the price of gold, since lead to a stronger dollar, which trades precious metals. This makes the purchase of gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.

"The market is no longer worried that the Fed will raise rates next week. Investors are more wary of the approaching referendum in the UK, which is likely to help increase the demand for gold, "- said Jens Pedersen, an analyst at Danske Bank.

"If the Fed refuses to raising rates in June and July and has not specified a specific time frame for further policy tightening, gold will get some support, and the US dollar will fall in price", - said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann.

Gold reserves in the largest gold ETF-fund SPDR Gold Trust rose by the end of Thursday's 0.7 percent, to 887.38 tonnes, the highest level since October of 2013.

The cost of the August gold futures on the COMEX rose to $ 1277.3 per ounce.