XAU/USD: Gold Moves Higher as Market Unease Remains

The precious metal is looking bright this week as investors bet on its safe-haven allure amid bank woes.

• Gold bounced for a third consecutive day to float near its weekly high amid continued market worries that the banking system may indeed be in trouble. Despite Wall Street moving in to shore up the banking system, investors are happily flocking to gold as their safe-haven play.
• XAU/USD advanced to $1,934 per ounce in early Friday deals. The shiny gains helped propel gold’s prices to levels around this year’s peak performance. Still, some cautiousness is expected to set in as markets shift focus on next week’s rate-setting Fed meeting.
• Behind the upside swing were a number of factors - jobless claims in the US fell, indicating a still-strong labor market. Besides, amid the financial chaos and bank-fueled market turmoil, the European Central Bank surprised money managers and gold traders with a 50bps rate hike.