Gold made more gains as the world’s largest gold-backed recorded its first inflows for two months.
SPDR Trust holdings rise slightly to 911.1mln tonnes on Friday, the first increase since 10 June.
Selling by institutions invested in ETFs has been a persistent drag on the gold price this year. Any easing of that pressure would help the gold price as physical demand has held up, especially in China.
Chinese gold consumption rose 64% in the first six months of this year at 706.36t according to the China Gold Association. Jewellery sales rose by more than 40%.
Indian sales are much weaker, however, due to attempts by the Indian Government to curb imports of gold into the country to improve its trade balance. India and china traditionally are the main buyer of gols bars, coins and especially jewellery. Spot gold rose US$27 to US$1,341, its highest price since June.
Elsewhere, giant Newcrest became the latest of the gold majors to confirm huge write-downs on its portfolio.
The Aussie group posted its first loss for years after a A$6bn (US$5.5bn) impairment hit, including a big charge for the Lihir mine in Papua New Guinea, while the final dividend was passed completely.
Write-offs across the industry have already totalled more than US$21bln with Barrick Gold recently taking a an US$8.7bn impairment charge
Excluding the write-offs, underlying profit in the year to June dropped 58% due to lower production and gold prices.
Newcrest reaffirmed revised production guidance of 2.0m-2.3m ounces for the current year but said it would not give guidance beyond 2014 due to the uncertainty afflciting the sector.
Elsewhere, silver also jumped strongly adding US$0.75 to US$21.26, while platinum added US$4 to US$1,503.
Major movers
Randgold Resources up 143p at 4,865p
Fresnillo up 76p at 1,111p
Anglo American up 29p at 1,572p