WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices rallied to fresh 4-month highs Tuesday morning amid mounting speculation that the European Central Bank will embark on full-scale quantitative easing.
With the ECB expected to print money on Thursday amid uncertainty over the future of Greece in the euro zone, gold's safe haven premium has driven bullion prices sharply higher in 2015.
Markets remained in cautious mood today as the International Monetary Fund slashed its global growth outlook.
Global growth is projected at 3.5 percent for 2015 and 3.7 percent for 2016, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook report, down by 0.3 percentage points from earlier estimates.
U.S. gold was up $12 at $1291.70 an ounce, silver picked up 15 cents to $17.87 an ounce, while copper eased a penny to $2.60.
The National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release its housing market index for January at 10 am ET. Economists expect the index to increase 1 point to 58.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX