Gold prices climb one percent

SINGAPORE: Gold climbed about 1 percent on Friday in a delayed reaction to minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting that showed the US central bank was in no hurry to hike rates.
Spot gold was up 0.8 percent at $1,147.56 an ounce by 0632 GMT. On Thursday, prices had rallied only briefly after the Fed minutes before closing down 0.6 percent despite a softer dollar.
The minutes pointed to a deeply cautious Fed even before subsequent economic data showed a sharp slowdown in hiring by US employers.
Most policymakers, however, thought the Fed's first rate hike in a decade should still come this year.
"Gold was choppy following the US FOMC minutes that did not give a clear indication of whether or not the Fed is poised to raise interest rates this year," said analysts at ScotiaMocatta, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee.
Asian stocks rose on Friday and the dollar nursed losses as investors pared bets that the central bank will hike interest rates this year given the dovish minutes.
"The tone from the Federal Open Market Committee minutes was slightly more dovish, although this wasn't too surprising," said ANZ.
"Overall, the FOMC still see risks to the downside for US real GDP and inflation forecasts, with recent global growth and financial market developments exacerbating these downside risks."