Gold Rises Slightly on Bargain Interest
Author: Matt Day</br></br>NEW YORK--Gold futures edged higher, rising above three-month lows on bargain buying but showing little direction as demand for refuge assets remains low.</br></br>The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, settled up 60 cents at $1,162.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. July gold gained $2.40, or 0.2%, to $1,160.40.</br></br>"We could see gold stabilize here," said Ralph Preston, senior market analyst with Heritage West Financial in San Diego, Calif. But "unless markets get spooked again," gold isn't likely to sustain a rally, he said.</br></br>Gold rose to records in May and June on worries about euro-zone sovereign debt and a slowdown in the economic recovery. Precious metals are sometimes bought as a hedge against uncertainty or inflation on the belief that they hold their value better than other assets during economic turmoil.