Metals Stocks: Gold perks up as geopolitical tensions in Europe resurface

Gold futures were trading higher on Thursday and on track to snap a three-session skid as political drama in the eurozone rattled investor confidence, providing the haven asset a path to climb.

December gold

GCZ7, +0.37%

 rose $5.50, or 0.4%, at $1,288.50 an ounce, after marking its third straight decline on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 23,000 for the first time and as all three main U.S. benchmarks marked all-time highs, underlining Wall Street’s appetite for assets perceived as risky over those considered havens. The exchange-traded SPDR Gold Trust

GLD, -0.38%

 appeared set to gain 0.4%.

Meanwhile, December silver

SIZ7, +0.19%

 ticked 4 cents, or 0.3%, higher at $17.040 an ounce. The exchange-traded iShares Silver Trust

SLV, -0.19%

 picked up 0.3%.

Gains for precious metals come as the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the country would move to suspend autonomous rule in the Catalonia region, after Catalan leaders failed to renounce their push for independence. The development for some threatens to comprise the integrity of Europe’s trading bloc, which already has suffered a blow from the United Kingdom’s decision last June to exit from the European Union.

Spain is expected to hold an extraordinary meeting Saturday to trigger Article 155 of the country’s constitution to take away some powers from Catalan.

Economic reports on Thursday also showed that China’s growth slowed in the third quarter. Traders have been watching China’s Communist Party Congress for policy clues that could influence demand from the world’s largest buyer of gold and industrial metals.

Despite the eurozone drama, the region’s shared currency, the euro

EURUSD, +0.4582%

climbed against the U.S. dollar to $1.1834, compared with $1.1787 late Wednesday. Another measure of the buck, the U.S. ICE Dollar Index

DXY, -0.24%

which measures greenback against a half-dozen currencies, was down 0.2%.

A weaker dollar typically undercuts appetite for commodities denominated in the currency, like gold, making them more expensive to buyers using other currencies.