Gold moderately higher

In today's trading, gold price rose slightly after touching a 2-week high yesterday.

Gold gained after the Fed's decision to keep interest rates earlier adopted on Wednesday. Since gold does not bring interest income, it is usually more in demand at low interest rates.

While investors continue to look for signals that will help to understand when rates may be increased, a slight increase in demand for metals in China and India could support prices, said Joni Tevez, strategist at UBS.

"We believe that the volume of purchases before the end of the year is likely to be limited and lower than in previous years, however, the purchase will be significantly higher than in the first half of 2016." - Tevez said.

Physical gold is usually purchased during festivals and weddings. A good rainy season in India has traditionally support growth of incomes of those engaged in agriculture, and this segment has a particularly high demand for gold.

Support for gold prices also had a weakening US dollar after the release of the business activity data. Preliminary data released by Markit Economics showed that the index of business activity in the manufacturing sector fell in September to 51.4 points compared to 52.0 points in August. The last reading was the lowest since June. Economists had expected the index to fall to only 51.9 points. It is worth emphasizing that the index remained above 50 points since October 2009, which indicates expansion

The cost of the October futures for gold on COMEX rose to $ 1340.2 per ounce.