Gold adds $33 per ounce on interest rate, oil price speculation

Metals prices rose Thursday as the dollar weakened after Wednesday’s decision by the US Federal Reserve to hold interest rates at 2 percent.

Gold had its biggest one-day percentage gain since late February 2007 as it added $33.20, or around 3.5 percent, to $915.50 per troy ounce on sentiment that the Federal Reserve will not be in any hurry to raise interest rates and after the president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said that crude oil prices could go as high as $170 per barrel this summer.

September silver was also higher, adding 61 cents to $17.22 per troy ounce, while October platinum gained $51.70 to $2,071 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, copper was also up on the declining dollar.

September copper was up 5 cents to $3.83 per pound in New York, while three-month copper was $128 higher to $8,443 per tonne, or $3.83 per pound, on the London Metal Exchange.