Gold heads for biggest quarterly rise

London - The metal is highly exposed to rising rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets while boosting the dollar.

 Gold rose on Thursday as a drop in equities boosted its appeal as an alternative asset, heading for its biggest quarterly gain in nearly 30 years as expectations that the Federal Reserve would press ahead with interest rate hikes receded.
The metal is highly exposed to rising rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets while boosting the dollar. It fell 10 per cent last year ahead of the first US rate increase in nearly a decade in December.
Spot gold was up 0.8 per cent at $1,234.61 an ounce at 0921 GMT, while US gold futures for April delivery were up $8 an ounce at $1,236.60.
Gold has climbed 16 per cent in the first three months of this year, its biggest quarterly rise since 1986, as concerns over global growth battered equities and sparked a wave of safe-haven buying. 

• Gold and Forex