London — Gold rose on Thursday, benefiting from risk aversion as weaker oil prices dented stocks while the dollar retreated. Spot gold gained 0.4% to $1,250.98/oz as of 10.41am GMT. It had added 0.3% in the previous session after briefly touching a five-week low of $1,240.75. US gold futures for August delivery rose 0.6% to $1,253.30/oz. "The weakness on the equity market is a factor providing support to gold," said Carsten Menke, an analyst at Julius Baer. Gold is often seen as a safe-haven option at times of volatility in riskier markets such as stocks. European equities took a battering as oil prices hovered near seven-month lows on concern about a supply glut. "The uncontrolled oil price spill in the futures markets may have seen some traders pushing the risk aversion button and buying gold," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda. "The primary driver appears to be the flattening of the longer-dated US treasury curve." The US treasury yield curve flattened to almost...
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