Ukraine pushes gold price

The price of gold rose on the European spot market on Monday, pushed up slightly by the escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Spot gold was at $1,289.22 a troy ounce, up 0.2 per cent in morning European trade. As the US takes a break with its Labor Day holiday Monday, market participants in Europe are looking to the week ahead. 'This week has a series of data to offer, among others, German Industrial Orders, German and European GDP, Purchase Managers Indexes from several countries, as well as Inflation and Employment figures from Europe and the USA,' said Ms Hellwig, Mr Richardt and Ms Choi at Heraeus. Furthermore, the next European Central Bank meeting Thursday will be watched with interest 'in light of the recent remarks on (monetary) expansive policy by Draghi in Jackson Hole,' they said. In other precious metals, silver was up 0.2 per cent at $19.485 an ounce, platinum was up 0.2 per cent at $1,419.50 an ounce, and palladium was up 0.7 per cent at $905.25 an ounce, according to skynews.com