Gold jumps as Yellen backs easing

London (Nov 14)  The yellow metal moved higher during Thursday's trading session driven by the Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman nominee calming concerns over tapering of the Fed's easing program.

Gold futures jumped 1.41%, trading at $1,286.50per troy ounce at the time of writing, while silver futures rallied 1.92%, standing at $20.830 per troy ounce.

Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, stood at 865.71 tonnes on Wednesday, remaining almost unchanged throughout November, driven by easing uncertainty.

The US dollar index, measuring the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six of its major peers, was up 0.01% standing at 80.931 points.

Yellen backs easing

Ben Bernanke's expected successor Janet Yellen will testify before the Senate Banking Committee later in the day, with her opening marks released ahead of time.

Yellen said the US economy is ''performing far short of their potential'' and there is ''more work to'' do on recovery of the world's largest economy.

Yellen also expressed the opinion that the US economy has made solid progress so far but the unemployment rate remains too high.

“I believe that supporting the recovery today is the surest path to returning to a more normal approach to monetary policy,” Yellen said.

Yellen is thought to be more dovish that Bernanke, meaning a draw back in the bank's $85-billion monthly asset-buying program could be delayed even further than expected.