Gold Hovers Near 6 Month High

Precious-Gold rose for a fourth day on Thursday, hovering around six-month high, as escalating geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine and worries of China slowdown spurred haven demand on the metal.

Russian forces strengthened their grip over Crimea, as Russian President Vladimir Putin got a parliamentary approval to use military force in Ukraine.

The EU is prepared to impose sanctions on Russia for violating the international law, following a referendum in Crimea on March 16 referendum that would decide on splitting from Ukraine and joining Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to meet his Russian peer Sergei Lavarov to resume negotiations.

On the other hand, worries from China slowdown soared after today’s retail sales and industrial production data.

Retail sales for the year ended February came in at 11.8 percent from a prior of 13.1 percent, while industrial production for the same period recorded 8.5 percent from the preceding of 9.7 percent.

After the absence of economic data from the United States this week, investors will focus today on intial jobless claims for last week as they continue to gather clues about the Fed’s stimulus taper.

Expectations are in favor of seeing further bond purchases cut by slashing another $10 billion this month to $55 billion during the upcoming Fed meeting on March 18-19.

Meanwhile, the yellow metal is trading around $1374.05 an ounce after hitting a high of $1374.66 and a low of $1364.70. However, the metal may face some resistance at the current level, especially amid possible profit taking by investors after the recent rally.

So far, the yellow metal has gained 14 percent this year after dropping 28 percent in 2013.

The U.S. dollar dipped for a second straight session against a basket of major currencies to hover around 79.35 after opening at 79.61, according to the dollar index.

Crude oil for April’s delivery inched up to $98.19 a barrel, after touching a high of $98.40.