Gold futures neared three-week highs as a Chinese interest-rate increase highlighted simmering global inflation pressures.
The most actively traded contract, for April delivery, rose $15.90, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,364.10 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Thinly traded front-month gold gained $15.80, to 1,363.40, its strongest close since Jan. 19.
China, the world's No. 2 gold market after India, raised benchmark lending and deposit rates on Tuesday in the latest of a series of tightening measures. The move stoked global inflation fears amid surging world-wide commodity prices.
Gold, which doesn't earn interest, is traditionally a hedge against inflation and often falls as interest rates rise and investors are drawn into higher-yielding assets.
But instead of having a calming effect, China's increase of its one-year lending and deposit rates to combat inflation reinforced fears that other governments have been "complacent" in letting easy monetary policy run too long, said Michael Gross, broker and futures analyst with OptionSellers.com.
"A general fear of inflation outweighed the action by China to tighten," he said.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart on Tuesday said "inflation anxiety is rising" within the U.S., and sought to calm nerves, saying, broadly speaking, price pressures remain low. He added that emerging-market economies, such as China and Brazil, can deal with any inflation pressures building in their own economies.
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