Gold up

Bengaluru

Gold inched up on Wednesday after hitting its lowest in five weeks in the previous session, buoyed as equities fell.

Spot gold had risen 0.2 percent to $1,245.30 per ounce by 0038 GMT, after dropping as far as $1,241 in the previous session.

U.S. gold futures for August delivery climbed 0.2 percent to $1,246.3 an ounce.

A renewed slump in oil prices to seven-month lows put Asian investors on edge on Wednesday, overshadowing a decision by U.S. index provider MSCI to add mainland Chinese stocks to one of its popular benchmarks.

However, MSCI shocked many emerging market investors by failing to upgrade Argentina from the frontier market category where it has languished in recent years.

Oil fell about 2 percent, with Brent settling at seven-month lows, after increased
supply from several key producers overshadowed high compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers with a deal to cut global output.