Gold

Over its last 20 sessions GOLD has moved 1.32% on a typical day, making it one of the calmer of the metals Kinzan tracks (their median is 2.25%).

That makes the last 24 hours a +0.7σ session for GOLD — the kind of session it has most weeks.

It sits near the top of its 24-hour range of 4,176.4–4,225.5, measured on hourly closes.

The New York block (13:00–22:00 UTC) did most of the work — roughly 71% of the movement over the last 24 hours.

Over the last 60 sessions of daily returns, it has moved most closely with SILVER (+0.86, a very strong relationship), and most inversely to USD/THB (−0.66).

Market read: Gold is pinned at its daily highs, showing strong haven demand across all sessions.

What it is

Gold has served as money, jewellery and a store of value for thousands of years, and it remains a reserve asset held by central banks around the world. The price shown here is the front COMEX gold futures contract, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce; one standard contract covers 100 troy ounces. Spot gold, traded over the counter in London, typically sits a small and fairly stable distance away from the nearby future, the difference largely reflecting interest and storage costs.

What drives it

Gold pays no interest, so the opportunity cost of holding it is central to its price. Historically it has tended to weaken when real yields — Treasury yields adjusted for expected inflation — rise, and to strengthen when they fall. A weaker US dollar usually supports it, since it makes the metal cheaper for buyers using other currencies. Demand is unusually diverse: central-bank reserve buying, investment through exchange-traded funds and bars, jewellery demand concentrated in India and China, and a smaller industrial component. Gold has a long reputation as a hedge against crisis, currency debasement and inflation, and geopolitical shocks have often produced sudden bids, though its record as an inflation hedge over short periods is mixed.

How it trades through the day

COMEX gold trades almost around the clock on the electronic platform, pausing for an hour each afternoon in New York. During the Asia block (22:00–07:00 UTC), demand from China and physical buyers in the region sets the tone, usually in modest volume. The London block (07:00–13:00 UTC) contains the London morning price auction and the centre of the over-the-counter bullion market. Volume in futures typically peaks in the New York block (13:00–22:00 UTC), around US economic releases and the COMEX floor-hours session.

What it tends to move with

Gold has historically moved inversely to the US Dollar Index and to real Treasury yields. It tends to move with silver and, more loosely, with platinum, and during risk-off episodes it has often gained at the same time as the franc and the yen, when USD/CHF and USD/JPY fall. Its relationship with the S&P 500 swings between positive and negative depending on whether markets are worried about growth or about inflation.