Singapore: Gold traded near a one-week high in Asia as the dollar headed for its sixth-straight quarterly loss against the euro and oil traded within 5 per cent of its record.

The gold for immediate delivery traded at 943.80 dollar an ounce in Singapore. Silver fell one per cent to 18.22 dollar an ounce.

Gold gained 2.7 per cent this week and 13 per cent this year, as the dollar lost 7.7 per cent against the euro since the end of December. Traders increased bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to avert a recession and curb credit-market losses.

The dollar heading for its biggest weekly decline in a month against the euro and the largest quarterly loss since 2004 as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 3 percentage points since September to kick start economic growth.

Gold faced so-called resistance, a level where sell orders cluster, at 955-960 dollar an ounce and gains in the metal's price might also be limited if crude oil fell.

US initial jobless claims dropped by 9,000 to 36,000 in the week that ended March 22. Another report that showed a 2.3 per cent increase in consumer spending in the final quarter of last year was possibly the best news in the data releases, traders said.

Crude oil yesterday rose above 108 dollar a barrel in New York after a pipeline explosion in Basra, southern Iraq cut supplies to the country's main export terminal.
Source : PTI