Gold's rally losing steam in global stocks hurt demand

Gold held a decline as speculation that central banks will remain supportive of growth underpins gains in global equities, curbing demand for a haven and pushing US stock benchmarks to records.

Bullion for immediate delivery was little changed at $1,339.65 an ounce at 2:25 p.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. After losing 0.6% on Thursday, the metal pared gains to 0.3% this week.

Gold has fluctuated this week as investors seek to gauge whether the Federal Reserve will tighten in the coming months. The metal remains about 26% higher in 2016 even as global stocks have advanced.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index all rose to records, the first time that’s happened simultaneously since 1999.

There’s no doubt that gold is being hurt by the rally in equities, according to Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Sydney.

"There seems to be money swishing between the two," he said. "So any surging in equity markets is seeing a drop off in investor appetite for precious metals."

In China, bullion of 99.99% purity retreated as much as 0.4% to 286.58 yuan a gram ($1 341.93 an ounce) on the Shanghai Gold Exchange.  

Holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded funds added 0.9 metric tonnes to 2 039.9 tonnes on Thursday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s the highest since July 2013.

Spot platinum advanced on global markets, while silver was little-changed. Palladium rose 0.5% to $692.32 an ounce, trimming a second weekly drop.

On Wednesday, the metal used in pollution-control devices for gasoline-fuelled vehicles posted.