Gold rises on Federal Reserve's quantitative easing announcement

Investing.com - Gold prices rose in U.S. trading on Friday, touching six-month highs after the Federal Reserve announced plans to stimulate the U.S. economy with a third round of quantitative easing measures, which weaken the dollar, gold's traditional hedge.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for October delivery were up 0.23% at USD1,773.55 a troy ounce, up from a session low of USD1,765.35 and down from a high of USD1,777.55 a troy ounce early during the session.

Gold futures were likely to test support at USD1,765.35 a troy ounce, the earlier low, and resistance at USD1,777.55, the earlier high.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced plans to buy USD40 billion in mortgage-backed securities a month from banks on an ongoing basis until the economy improves, a policy measure known as quantitative easing.

The Fed also said it would continue with its Operation Twist program that sees the U.S. central bank selling short-term Treasury holdings in the market while simultaneously buying longer-term instruments with the aim of keeping interest rates low.

The Federal Reserve will inject a total of USD85 billion a month into the economy a month via its combined stimulus measures.

The Fed also said conditions meriting low interest rates will likely last through mid-2015.

Monetary stimulus measures in the U.S. weaken the dollar to spur recovery, quantitative easing especially, sending gold climbing, in this case, hitting highs not seen since February of this year.

Gold later began to cool its rally, however, as investors sold on sentiment the precious metal is becoming ripe for profit taking.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery was down 0.40% and trading at USD34.640 a troy ounce, while copper for December delivery was up 3.26% and trading at USD3.831 a pound.