Gold opened higher on Tuesday as further supply disruptions in Nigeria, the world’s eighth-largest oil producer, and a weaker dollar, made the precious metal increasingly attractive.
Spot gold stood at $927.00/927.90 an ounce by 0329 GMT, having earlier risen above $930, and up from $925.20/926.60 in New York late last week.
Both Britain and the United States were closed for public holidays on Monday.
A rise in oil prices above $133 on production problems in the North Sea over the weekend and in Nigeria on Monday when rebels blew up a pipeline, drove gold higher on Tuesday.
"I am tracking oil prices for direction. And the dollar is still weakening," said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
"If gold holds above $910, it could go up to $950. If it falls below $910, it could go back to the $800s," he added.
Oil bellwether NYMEX crude oil was up 97 cents at $133.16 by 0333 GMT, having climbed earlier as high as $133.46 after rebels from Nigeria’s southern Niger Delta blew up a Royal Dutch Shell oil pipeline on Monday, forcing the firm to cut production.
Spot gold rose as high as $935.30 last Thursday, its highest level in a month, on the day that oil prices rose above $135.00.
Non-commercial investors in U.S. gold futures turned bullish last week, hiking their long positions by around 20 percent in the week to May 20, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.
Non-commercial investors, often referred to as speculators, were net long on 182,119 lots of gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX metals division, up from 152,938 lots a week earlier.
Further adding to bullion’s attractiveness as an alternate currency, the U.S. dollar remained close to one-month lows against a basket of currencies on Tuesday as investors expect economic data and speeches by Federal Reserve officials to provide a clearer picture of the deteriorating economy.
Gold is often seen as an alternative currency when the dollar weakens.
The dollar index was within sight of one-month lows of 71.823 struck last week, as it stood at 71.930 on Tuesday morning.
Gold futures for June delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $2.00 to $927.80 an ounce.
Benchmark April gold on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange was up 2 yen at $3,107 yen per gram by the end of the morning session, having settled unchanged on Monday.
Spot platinum rose to $2,176.00/2,196.00 an ounce from $2,156.50/2,176.50 late in New York on Friday.
The most active Tokyo platinum futures contract for April was up another 12 yen per gram at 7,055 yen by the end of the TOCOM morning session, having settled 40 yen higher on Monday.
Silver was largely steady from last week at $18.23/18.29 an ounce, against last Friday’s $18.26 high, which was its highest level since April 18.
Spot palladium was largely steady at $449/$457 an ounce.
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