The gold price has climbed to around $1,175 per troy ounce as the week draws to a close. Gold in euro terms has surged by over 2% to a 3½-month high of almost €1,060 per troy ounce on the back of the euro's sharp depreciation against the US dollar.
At the press conference following the ECB's meeting, ECB President Draghi had raised the prospect of a further loosening of monetary policy in early December, saying that the ECB would act if there were a setback in the targeted rise in inflation towards 2%.
"The ECB could further lower the deposit rate, it could extend its bond purchasing programme to beyond September 2016 or it could increase its monthly bond purchases from the current €60 billion level", states Commerzbank.
Draghi stressed that the euro's appreciation vis-à-vis the currencies of Europe's trading partners is one aspect of the disappointing inflation trend.
"We conclude from this that Draghi wants to see a lower euro in the long term. This should help drive up euro commodity prices in general and euro gold prices in particular", added Commerzbank.
Since there were no inflows into gold ETFs yesterday, the price rise must have been driven for the most part by speculation. Data showing the positioning of speculative market participants will be published this evening by the CFTC.
