Golld moves higher heading into the European open

LONDON (Mar 17)  After rising 0.47% on Wednesday gold is another 0.21% higher leading into Thursday's session. Silver is also 0.16% higher trading at $25.13/oz. In the rest of the commodities complex, copper is 0.29% higher and spot WTI has moved 2.56% into the black.

Risk sentiment was good overnight as the Nikkei 225 (3.46%), ASX (1.05%), and Shanghai Composite (1.40%) all closed higher. Futures in Europe are also pointing towards a positive cash open. 

In FX markets, GBP, AUD, and NZD all moved 0.30% higher against the greenback. In the crypto space, BTC/USD is 0.60% lower on the day. 

News from overnight:

Last night the Fed raised rates by 25bps. A further 6 six hikes are expected in 2022. 

Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda says will keep easing until the inflation target is achieved.

U.K. military intelligence: Russian invasion of Ukraine has largely stalled on all fronts.

U.K. MoD says Russia using weapons is more likely to cause civilian casualties.

India is looking to buy 15m barrels of Russian oil.

France's Foreign Minister says Russia is only pretending to negotiate with Ukraine.

UN Security Council's Western members ask for an emergency Ukraine meeting Thursday.

Australia Feb Employment change +77.4K (expected +37K) & Unemployment 4.0% (expected 4.1%).

Japan Core Machinery Orders for January -2.0% m/m (expected -2.2%).

NZ data - Q4 GDP +3.0% q/q (vs. expected 3.2%).

Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include EU CPI, U.S. initial jobless claims, industrial production, BoE rate decision, comments from ECB's Lagarde, Schnabel, and Lane. 

KITCO